The Parallel Universe Conundrum
by Clint Cooper
Summary: Sheldon actually did invent a wormhole that could travel to different parallel universes. Whilst experimenting with the wormhole Sheldon finds himself trapped in another universe where there are the same people but everyone has changed. The one thing that is missing is Amy and Sheldon needs to get back to her and his home.
1. Chapter 1

"The first forty three parallel universes I've checked proved to be empty. I see no reason to suspect universe number forty-four will be any different." Sheldon recorded his verbal journal as he looked at the wormhole that he'd just created. It looked like a large shiny blue ring with a white outline.

This creation took several months of going to the basement at two forty-five each day, to keep it secret, and after working out the appropriate mathematics he managed to build a machine which generated a 'wormhole'. He felt his heart pump excitedly as he saw the wormhole appear before him for the first time. However Sheldon realised he had to test and perform scientific experiments on it and he didn't know how as he had no idea what could be the other end of the hole. He avoided doing experiments on it for a week until his scientific curiosity got the best of him and he touched the wormhole. He found objects and then his hand go into it quite easily and safely. He put on an oxygen mask and put his head into the hole. It was blue nothingness and reminded him of a lifeless ocean. He tethered himself to the room and bravely stepped inside for the first time. He found himself walking on nothing which seemed odd. He continued to walk but it was still nothing and he eventually came back to where he started. Each day he did another test and so far the result was the same, walking aimlessly in this wormhole and ending up back to the basement. If this continued to happen Sheldon would just have to give up. What was the point of his discovery if no one could use it?

Sheldon took a deep breath stepped into the large hole again. At first it was the same as the other trials. The wormhole was one of the oddest and fascinating things Sheldon had ever seen. He could walk around inside it but there was no proper form of gravity so he could pretty much go whatever way he wanted. Sheldon took several more steps until he noticed his heart rate was increasing rapidly and more so than normal nervousness or excitement. He began to panic and looked around to find the exit but saw nothing. His vision turned dark and the last thing he saw was himself falling.

#

Sheldon's eyes opened suddenly and his eyes adjusted to sudden bright light. He sat up and saw it was just the basement that he was working in. Sheldon gave a confused look. Each other time he just walked until he got back to the entrance again. However this time he blacked out and woke up in the same place. Sheldon noticed that all his scientific equipment that he was using to create the wormhole was gone. Had someone stolen it whilst he was passed out? Sheldon even noted that the surveillance camera he put up to monitor what happened in the experiments had vanished.

Sheldon looked around the room carefully and found nothing. He sighed and decided that he needed to see if he could find his equipment elsewhere. He walked out of the room and went up the stairs to the university. The university looked the same structurally but he began to notice some of the names on the office doors were different to how he remembered. Did him blacking out effect his eidetic memory? He felt happy when he discovered that his office still had his name on the door. He saw his office desk was black now instead of brown and had a picture of Penny on it.

"What?" he said to himself as he picked it up. The picture of Penny seemed to be a professional work picture.

"Oh there you are sweety." Sheldon heard a familiar voice behind him. He turned to see Penny standing at his office door. She was working professional work clothes which seemed peculiar.

"Hello Penny." Sheldon greeted.

"Where have you been?" Penny asked curiously. "You weren't here earlier and I asked around to see if anyone knew." She added. Sheldon did not want to tell her where he was going or what he was doing at two forty-five.

"I can't tell you." Sheldon said.

"What happened to no secrets between us?!" Penny exclaimed "You put it in the relationship agreement when I requested it!"

"My agreement with Amy is none of your business." Sheldon told her. "And you weren't involved in the creation of it!"

"Who is Amy?" Penny asked angrily. "Is that why you were gone?"

"Penny are you drunk?" Sheldon asked facetiously "It wouldn't surprise me if you were."

Penny gave him a glare. "Fine!" Penny almost screeched "I came here to surprise you and take you to dinner but since you have this Amy I won't even drive you home!" Penny turned around quickly and Sheldon heard her loud footsteps as she walked away from his office. Sheldon sat down on his desk chair and thought about this odd interaction. Did something happen to him in the wormhole?

"Sheldon." Raj walked into the room. "I could hear Penny's shouting from my office. Are you okay?"

"Oh hello Raj." Sheldon greeted "Yes I am fine. I don't know what she was going on about. I'll have to talk to Leonard about it when he drives me home."

"Oh Leonard will not drive you home." Raj interrupted "He is still angry at you about Penny."

"Excuse me?" Sheldon asked.

"Well he wanted to pursuit Penny but she fell for you instead." Raj stated.

"You must be drunk too!" Sheldon exclaimed. "Penny would never pursuit me."

"Maybe you're the drunk one." Raj said "Because you have been dating Penny for two years."

"Yep. Confirmed. You are drunk. How many girls did you need to talk to, to get that drunk?"

"I am fine talking to girls Sheldon. Not that I usually need to." Raj laughed but Sheldon didn't get what was funny. Not atypical for him though.

"What do you mean by that?" Sheldon queried

"You seem out of it today." Raj noticed. "If you need someone to drive you home I will." Raj gave him a smile.

"Ok." Sheldon said "You can drive me home. But not now. I have some stuff to do." Sheldon stood up to look around Caltech for his equipment.

#

"This car has seat warmers." Sheldon squirmed in his seat. "I hate it! Can you turn it off?!" Sheldon had no idea Raj bought a new car.

"You love the seat warmers usually." Raj said.

"I've never been in this car before Raj." Sheldon corrected. Raj gave a confused facial expression. "And also there is an air-freshener in here!"

"Howard put that in here." Raj told him.

"Well Howard has bad taste. Air-fresheners ruin the feel of a car." Sheldon said. Raj sighed deeply but didn't say anything. The car pulled up to the driveway of Sheldon's apartment building. Sheldon and Raj walked into the building and up the stairs to his apartment.

"What are you going to say to Penny?" Raj asked as they walked up the stairs.

"I am going to ask if she is menstruating and if that is why she is going crazy." Sheldon told him.

"Dude! No!" Raj insisted "That could be a relationship ender! You have to be nice and ask her why she is feeling what she is feeling without insinuating anything."

"We've been friends too long for one question to end our friendship." Sheldon stated.

"Well most platonic friends don't schedule in a 'sex night' for every Saturday." Raj giggled.

Sheldon gave a confused look. "Saturday night is laundry night." He informed Raj. Sheldon grabbed his keys from his pocket and opened the apartment. He saw Penny in it drinking a glass of wine and crying.

"Penny why are you crying?" Sheldon asked as he walked in.

"Why do you think smarty pants?" Penny asked in anger.

"I don't know." Sheldon said honestly. Raj was notably scared of an angry Penny and was keeping his mouth shut.

"Well my own 'boyfriend' is cheating on me!" she stated like it was obvious.

"Leonard is cheating on you?" Sheldon questioned.

"No you are!" Penny began to cry "Don't joke about this!"

Something in Sheldon's mind clicked and his eyes opened wide in shock. It wasn't the blacking out that was effecting his mind. He was actually in a parallel universe. This universe had similarities to his own but the subtle changes were obvious. Everyone in his life still existed but their roles had changed as evident from Penny being his girlfriend in this universe. His mind began to panic. It made sense why he couldn't find his equipment because it didn't exist in this universe. How was he going to get home? Could he get home? Where was Amy? He gulped.

"I'm sorry…" Sheldon thought about what he could say amidst this panic "I was just joking to make you happy." He lied.

"Well don't!" Penny shouted.

"I didn't cheat on you." Sheldon assumed that his parallel universe self didn't cheat on her.

"Then who is Amy?" Penny asked.

"A figment of my imagination." Sheldon made something up. "She is what I nickname the physics-thinking part of my brain."

"Is that really true?" Penny asked. Her tears had stopped flowing but she was anticipating eagerly Sheldon response.

"Of course." Sheldon reassured.

Penny let out a sigh of a relief. "Are you sure?"

"Am I ever wrong about anything?" Sheldon joked.

"That fact that you like the Avengers movie." Raj interrupted with a joke.

"What?" Sheldon asked "The Avengers movie was a masterpiece."

"Sheldon open your eyes." Penny said "That movie got 10% on Rotten Tomatoes and bombed at the box office. It single-handedly stopped the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the comic book movie fad."

Sheldon looked stunned. Of all the places for him to go why did it have to be a one where The Avengers wasn't a good movie? And when did Penny get so knowledgeable about superhero movies?

Suddenly the door swung opened quickly and Sheldon turned to see it was Howard but instead of a Beatles Haircut his hair was all over the place.

"Raj we have good news" Howard was ecstatic about something.

"What is it Howie?" Raj asked. Sheldon noted that Raj used the name Bernadette called Howard. Did that mean Bernadette was in this social circle in this universe?

"We are getting a baby! The donor chose us for adoption!" Howard was almost jumping up and down.

"Oh my gosh!" Raj suddenly hugged Howard and kissed him. Sheldon was thrown back for a second.

"Excuse me." Sheldon interrupted. "You two are in a romantic relationship?"

"Sheldon stop joking around." Penny said "I love your comedic side but you don't need to ruin the moment."

"But…" Sheldon said.

"It is fine." Howard interrupted "We know it is joke. He was Raj's best man after all."

Sheldon didn't need to ask why for this one. He insinuated that Howard and Raj were married.

"Obviously." Sheldon lied "And congratulations on the baby."

"Yes congratulations." Penny smiled at Howard and Raj "I can't wait to babysit for you. Maybe it'll prepare Sheldon and I for parenthood."

Sheldon shuddered a little at the thought of having sex with Penny and producing a child.

"We have to get married first." Sheldon assumed the two weren't married yet.

"That doesn't mean we can't produce a child." Penny said "You sounded so much like your mother then."

Sheldon was curious that his mother was similar in this universe. He assumed his genetic makeup being the same meant that his mother was physically the same.

#

With all the getting used to this new universe he did not give another thought to how he would get back to his old one until Howard and Raj left the apartment and Penny went to take a shower. He was left by himself in the apartment's living area. Sheldon remembered everything that he figured out to create the wormhole but what guarantee was there that he'd make it back to the correct universe? Maybe he'd have to stay here for eternity? He knew he'd have love and comfort with Penny but he knew that he'd begin to miss Amy who was a better match for him than anyone he'd ever met, even this smarter version of Penny.

Sheldon's laptop in this universe was an Apple brand something which he would never buy back in his previous universe. He turned it on and opened Internet Explorer. He typed in his Facebook and luckily it was already logged in. He didn't know if this universe's Sheldon had a different password. He saw his profile picture was a selfie with him and Penny. He looked at his relationship status and saw he and Penny had indeed been dating for two years and he thought it was possibly even longer given Leonard used to wait months to change his relationship status. Where was Leonard in this universe?

Sheldon typed 'Leonard Hoftstader' into Facebook and saw his profile which had a picture of him in trendy clothing which Sheldon thought was odd. The other thing he noticed was that Leonard had blocked him.

The next name he typed into Facebook was 'Amy Farah-Fowler'. He was extremely curious where she fit into this new world. He saw a profile with a picture of Amy. She looked the same with glasses and long brown hair but she was wearing a wedding dress. She was standing next to unknown male in a suit. Sheldon felt instantly jealous.

Sheldon heard Penny's footsteps come out of the shower and walk into the room. He immediately closed his laptop and turned to look her. She was wearing short pyjamas which revealed more skin than Sheldon would have liked.

"What ya doin'?" Penny asked.

"I was…" Sheldon thought for a second "Working on a paper." His face twitched involuntarily.

"So you've started a new one?" Penny questioned excitedly. He noted that Penny couldn't tell he was lying.

"Yes." He nodded.

"What is it about?" Penny queried.

"You wouldn't understand it." Sheldon told her.

"How many time do we have to go through the experimental physicists aren't dumber than theoretical physicists argument?" Penny questioned.

"You're a physicist?" Sheldon was more confused.

"Of course I am sweety." She added.

"Curious." Sheldon thought to himself. Sheldon wondered what kind of events were different in this parallel universe to cause all these changes and wondered if one event changed or several.

Sheldon noted two tasks he needed to complete:

1\. Find more about this parallel universe and why it is the way it is

2\. Rebuild the wormhole and get back to Amy

His mind than spontaneously added another task

3\. Find Amy in this universe.

"So what is this paper on?" Penny asked again.

"Wormholes." Sheldon said "And how to travel to different parallel universes."

"That sounds interesting." Penny said and Sheldon didn't detect any hint of sarcasm. Not that he'd notice if there was.

 **Well I wrote this quicker than I expected. This is the start a possible second story and I am a little nervous to read the reviews given the changes in the parallel universe. This is NOT a Shenny story it is just they are paired in this parallel universe. Sheldon's main motivation for getting back will be Amy and there will be some Shamy moments later. Also some of the Parallel Universe science might be inaccurate. I'm only an engineering student after all :D** **Please review, favourite and follow if you think this is a story worth continuing or not. Thanks you all for giving this new story a chance.**

 **Clint Cooper**


	2. Chapter 2

"Sheldon, sweety." Sheldon's eyes opened as he heard a female voice and felt someone patting him lightly on the shoulder.

"Penny!" Sheldon exclaimed as he recognized the voice and saw her in front of him. "What are you doing touching me in my sleep?"

"Sweety you feel asleep in your spot." Penny sat next to Sheldon as he realised that he was sitting in his spot.

"I had the oddest dream." Sheldon told Penny "A wormhole I built transported me to a parallel universe…"

"That was because you stayed up late to work on your paper on parallel universes." Penny said. "All that working before bed must have caused that dream." Penny put her hand around Sheldon and gave a tight hug. Sheldon would have been shocked if he didn't just remember that the dream wasn't a dream. And that he was stuck as Penny's boyfriend in this universe.

He didn't want to go to sleep in the same bed as Penny as in this universe his bedroom was now shared with Penny. When he looked inside of it he saw it was completely different to his previous room. There were drawers and a large cupboard filled with Penny's clothing and the bed was larger to accommodate the two of them. He also looked in Leonard's room which seemed to be a storage area for his, and surprisingly Penny's, nerdy collectables. 'Smart Penny' also seemed to still be a fan of Hello Kitty and Beanie Babies.

Instead of sleeping in the same bed as Penny he made the excuse that he was staying up to work on his paper and sat on the couch looking through Facebook and Google, seeing where everyone in his previous life was. Howard and Raj were definitely a couple as evident by their wedding photos on Facebook. The two looked quite handsome in their matching tuxedos. Bernadette did try and get a college degree in micro-biology but failed all her first year subjects and had to drop out. Instead she became a figure-skater and won a bronze medal in the last winter Olympics. Stuart still ran a comic book store but instead of the a small one in Pasadena it was the second-largest comic book company in the USA and had a very impressive website. Apparently Stuart now lived in a big mansion in a rich part of Los Angeles.

Most importantly however was Amy. Amy had married someone called David and the two lived in Pasadena, given the restaurants she liked on Facebook. Amy still worked in the neurobiology department of Caltech which gave Sheldon hope that they could meet in this universe, just to see how she was different and if they'd ever met before.

Sheldon could have Facebooked and Googled many more people but seeing the pictures of Amy made him miss her. This made him want to get back to her so he decided to write down all the math he could remember from building the wormhole in the first place. If the mathematics behind it was simpler he could just use his memory but the maths was complex and lengthy so he needed to write it down to visualise it. He must have been very tired at this point because he fell asleep on the couch whilst writing.

"Is this your math?" Penny asked him as she picked up the pages of his math that were on the table in front of him. Sheldon tried to reach the papers before her but he wasn't quick enough.

"Don't look at that!" Sheldon complained "I haven't finished writing that yet!"

Penny eyes became wide in surprise as she read it. "This is ground breaking Sheldon!" Penny said in shock "I know this isn't finished but it could change the way we see physics and time and…"

Sheldon stood up and tried to take the paper from Penny's hand. "Give it back!" Sheldon insisted "I don't want you to see it until it is perfect!" Sheldon lied here. He never wanted to show it to her. No way did he want this Penny to come with him back to his universe.

Penny giggled. "Okay sweety. Anything to keep you from getting crazy." She gave Sheldon the papers and kissed him lovingly on the cheek

"I'm not crazy!" Sheldon insisted. "My mother had me tested!"

"I know." Penny said and turned around to get some coffee. Sheldon quickly wiped the kiss from his cheek in disgust.

"Do you believe in Parallel universes Penny?" Sheldon asked. He didn't know what getting a 'smart Penny' opinion would be like so this was like a test.

"Of course I do sweety." Penny said as she starting boiling some water. "There have been many good papers trying to prove their existence and given your math yours will be to. Of course we'll never know for sure until we actually see or travel to one." Sheldon nodded as he listened to Penny's opinion.

"I know for sure that they exist." Sheldon told her. "I'm going to go take a shower and change clothes. I can't believe I slept in these." Sheldon walked out of the room as Penny thought about what he said.

#

This universe's Sheldon had similar style to him and had which clothes he wore on each day labelled in his closet so it wasn't hard for him to choose something. That day was Thursday and Thursday was apparently melting rubix cube shirt day. Penny drove Sheldon to work and Sheldon spent the morning writing up the rest of the calculations for the wormhole. The calculations were complex and there were many pages to write but at 11:45am he had written down the final line. His hand was in extreme pain but he didn't stop because he needed to back to Amy. He scanned the notes to his computer so he wouldn't have to write them again. At 11:50 Raj walked into his office.

"Hey buddy." Raj greeted "You look tired. Was it Penny?"

"I was working on a paper." Sheldon couldn't help yawn after saying this.

"Well let's go get lunch." Raj said. "You usually complain to me if we aren't eating by 12."

"That does sound like me." Sheldon stood up and his stomach rumbled really loudly. He hadn't eaten since breakfast since he was working so hard.

During his lunch break he was intending to go and see Amy's office but Raj was determined to get to the cafeteria with him. The two got their food and saw Howard eating alone at a table. Raj sat next to Howard whilst Sheldon sat across from Raj.

"You look tired Sheldon." Howard noticed.

"He was working on a paper." Raj told Howard.

"What is it about?" Howard asked.

"You wouldn't understand." Sheldon said. "You're just a…" Sheldon stopped himself when he realised he didn't know if Howard was an engineer in this universe.

"Just an engineer?" Howard finished his sentence.

"Yes." Sheldon nodded.

"I understand physics Sheldon." Howard informed him. "I did some when getting my doctorate!"

"You have a doctorate?" Sheldon questioned.

"Very funny!" Howard thought the questioning was meant to be sarcastic. "Yes I have one!"

"Okay calm down everyone. We don't need an argument so let's change the topic." Raj said with a sudden huge smile. "Do you want to see a picture of our child?"

"You have the child already? You only found out yesterday?" Sheldon questioned.

"No but they sent us a picture with him in his little blanket." Raj opened his pictures app on his phone and handed it to Sheldon. The baby was asleep and was wrapped in a blue blanket. "He is half Jewish, half Indian and very healthy." Raj informed Sheldon with more happiness than Sheldon had ever seen from Raj.

"He is very cute." Sheldon assumed. He didn't actually find children adorable. He saw them more as fluid production machines.

"We are excited. We are driving to receive him on Sunday." Howard informed Sheldon. Sheldon nodded.

This kind of interaction with the two of them seemed odd. Sheldon sat in silence for a few seconds as Howard and Raj looked at more pictures on the phone.

"Do you two believe in Parallel universes?" Sheldon questioned, interrupting Raj who was saying something to Howard.

"I do." Raj said.

"I don't believe they exist." Howard said "How could they possibly exist?"

"Curious." Sheldon said "A doctorate and still disappointing me." Howard gave a glare.

"Why do you say that?" Howard asked.

"My paper is on Parallel universes." He informed them "And I can confirm that they do exist."

"I am looking forward to reading the paper." Raj said calmly and looked at Howard to give a signal to not get angry.

"Do you two know who organises the grant money for the university?" Sheldon asked. "I want to check how much I have and get some more to help with the paper." He needed the money to build his machine again.

"Sheldon you are not going to get much." Howard informed. "Apart from your salary there is minimal grant money for the three of us."

"Why?" Sheldon asked. "Isn't it fair that…"

"You know Leonard is the accountant for this department and he has only given us the legal minimum since you and Penny started dating and the two of us took your side." Raj looked sad. "You might need to sell an organ or something if you want more money."

He needed the money to re-build the wormhole generator. In his old universe he was a star of the university so getting grant money was easy. Apparently it wasn't going to be the case now and he needed to do something about that. Sheldon realised that he hadn't been eating. He took a bite of his lasagne and it was cold. But he was too hungry to care.

#

Sheldon looked on the university website and looked at the staff photos. Leonard indeed was the sciences' head accountant. This made Sheldon wonder how the two met each other in the first place. Maybe him working around the physics department still made him see his 'Roommate Wanted' flyer. Sheldon noted Leonard's office number and forced himself to walk to it. He knew it would be awkward but he needed the money. He saw Leonard's name on the door and knocked.

"Come in!" he heard Leonard shout. Sheldon opened the door to see Leonard typing on his laptop. He was wearing his glasses still but was wearing similar trendy clothing to his Facebook profile picture.

"Good afternoon Leonard." Sheldon greeted.

Leonard gave an annoyed sigh. "Why are you here Dr. Cooper?" he asked. Sheldon noticed how he didn't use his first name.

"I would like to discuss my grant money…" Sheldon began to say but was interrupted.

"We are not going to have this discussion again Dr. Cooper!" Leonard raised his voice "You have a fair amount of money!"

"But I need more!" Sheldon insisted. "I know I really wanted it the other times we discussed this BUT this is really important!"

"Did you get Penny knocked up or something?" Leonard asked facetiously. "It is not my job to compensate for your sexual urges."

"No, not all…"

"For years you were like 'Coitus is for lower-life forms! Coitus is too germy!' but then when Penny bats her eyes you jump into bed with her!" Leonard stated angrily.

"Are you sure that is me?" Sheldon asked in confusion. He wondered if Leonard was over-exaggerating for arguments sake.

"You are such a hypocrite." Leonard shook his head. "Now get out of my office! I have work to do!"

"But..."

"Just leave!" Leonard shouted. Sheldon almost jumped in surprise. He turned around and left the office before it could get any worse. He'd have to find another way to get the money.

"Wow." Sheldon said in shock "I've been taking my Leonard for granted. He is a nice, helpful and considerate guy compared to that." Sheldon shook his head and stepped away from Leonard's office door. He felt a sudden force push into him and a giant box slammed right into Sheldon's stomach, knocking him over.

"Ow." Sheldon moaned in pain. He was sure that was going to bruise.

"Oh my gosh!" Sheldon heard a familiar voice panic. "I'm so sorry! I couldn't see with this box in the way!"

Sheldon knew this voice. The voice that came out of the lips that he hated to admit that he loved to kiss. The voice that sang the most beautiful songs whilst playing the harp. The voice that was like music to his ears when they talked on the phone. It was the voice that he fell in love with.

"Amy?" Sheldon looked up immediately and saw her face. What was he going to say to the person he loved but didn't know he did? Was this even the same Amy he fell in love with?

 **So Sheldon bumps into Amy after his meeting with Leonard. How will the two interact and what will Amy be like in this universe? What do you think will occur?**

 **Thanks everyone for the feedback on the last chapter. It makes me feel happy that people have given my second story a chance! If you liked please favourite, follow and review. Thanks gustavehaha, SRAM, gamenerd 08, Julie, michiamoverano (sorry for the Shenny moments), kelli.k, trelayna and a guest for reviewing since last time. Thanks again.**

 **Clint Cooper**


	3. Chapter 3

"Amy?" Sheldon looked up immediately and saw her face. What was he going to say to the person he loved but didn't know he did? Was this even the same Amy he fell in love with?

"What did you just say?" Amy questioned with a confused expression on her face.

"I said…." Sheldon thought for a second. "I said… help me." Sheldon reached out his hand towards Amy.

"Oh!" Amy looked relieved. She put the box she was carrying on the ground and grabbed Sheldon's hand. The hand felt quite comfortable for Sheldon and it reminded him of when Amy made them hold hands and he complained even though he secretly found it comforting. Amy grabbed tighter and pulled Sheldon up from the floor. "Once again I apologise for making you fall over and for not helping you up immediately." Amy sounded very sincere.

"That is okay." Sheldon said. He was actually happy they bumped into each other.

"I know it is weird but I thought you said my name for a second." Amy giggled to herself. "That is why I asked what you said."

"Understandable mistake." Sheldon stated. "Help me and Amy rhyme and a person's brain is trained to respond to our name from a young age…"

"You just said it." Amy said with suspicion.

"Said what?" Sheldon questioned.

"You said my name." Amy told him. "You said 'help me and Amy rhyme'. I never told you my name!"

Sheldon gulped. He didn't even realise it that time.

"Do you know who I am?" Amy looked crept out.

"Do you know who I am?" Sheldon asked back curiously, wondering about their interaction previously in this universe.

"I know of you." Amy stated "Dr. Sheldon Cooper. You are a theoretical physicist at this university. My husband is a big fan of your work."

"Oh, your husband." Sheldon noticed the wedding ring on Amy's finger for the first time. It was nowhere near as good as his Meemaw's ring that he hoped to give to Amy one day. "Anyway I know your name because I am big fan of your work." Sheldon fibbed. His face twitched with the lie and he hoped Amy wouldn't notice.

"You have an involuntary facial contraction there." Amy pointed out. "I am a neurobiologist. I know the signs of people lying."

"Well I have no reason to lie to you." Sheldon said. His face ticked again.

"I don't know why you are lying but there is clearly a reason." Amy sighed after she said this and picked up the box. "But I don't have time to find out as I have to go and give this old equipment to a student laboratory. Sorry once again for knocking you over." Amy walked away quickly before Sheldon could say another word to her. He watched her walk down the hallway and she turned a corner.

Sheldon groaned internally at the failure of this interaction. Amy seemed nice like she did back in the old universe as she apologised sincerely for knocking him over and she was donating her equipment. However she seemed put-off by the fact he was lying to her and might have thought he was some kind of weirdo.

Sheldon did not know what to do next so he stood in the middle of the hallway thinking to himself. He thought of Amy and how she saw that he was lying. Sheldon thought that he should have just told her the truth. Surely someone as kind-hearted as Amy would understand his predicament? Or would she think he was joking around? Did it actually matter? He just needed to get to his universe and he needed to find a way to get the money to do so.

Sheldon's mind was distracted from his thoughts when he heard footsteps coming from around the corner and he saw it was Amy who must have been returning from her trip to the laboratory as she was no longer carrying a box. Sheldon put his head down in embarrassment and Amy watched carefully as she walked by. She didn't speak a word.

"I'm sorry." Sheldon had the courage to say quietly.

"What?" Amy turned to him.

"I'm sorry for looking like a complete weirdo." Sheldon took a deep breath. "It has been something I've been dealing with my entire life and suddenly I've been thrown into a new world and I don't know what is happening and it is causes my brain to do unexplainable things…"

"Are you apologising for somehow knowing my name?" she questioned.

"Yes." Sheldon stated. "It is hard to explain why. I wish I could but you would laugh at me."

Amy took a deep breath. "I promise that if you are honest, I won't laugh."

"People can't help their initial reactions sometimes." Sheldon told her. "I once told my friend Leonard about my fear of nets after he promised not to laugh beforehand and he laughed without thought."

"Well I promise that I will attempt to control any initial reaction I have." Amy promised.

Sheldon took a deep breath as he prepared to tell her. "Well I managed to build a machine that…"

Suddenly Leonard's door swung open and Leonard walked out holding an empty coffee mug. Sheldon stopped talking and Leonard saw the interaction that was happening between the two.

"Good afternoon Dr. Fowler." Leonard greeted.

"Hello." Amy said back. They seemed to know each other and Sheldon assumed Amy might have gone to Leonard for money at some point given that he did this for the entire science department.

"I wouldn't trust this man." Leonard stated "He pretended to be all 'asexual' and then went and slept with my girl. "

"What?" Amy asked with confusion.

"I'm pretty sure Leonard is exaggerating the scenario." Sheldon informed Amy although he had no idea whether this was true.

"Wait… is this the 'friend' Leonard who you told about your fear of nets?" Amy asked Sheldon.

"Yes." Sheldon nodded.

"I assure you Sheldon NEVER mentioned a fear of nets to me." Leonard shook his head disapprovingly.

"Curious." Amy stated.

"I wasn't lying." Sheldon insisted. "Surely I would have mentioned it." He turned to Leonard. Leonard shook his head no.

"And I thought you were going to tell the truth." Amy's eyes glared at Sheldon.

"It wasn't a lie!" Sheldon defended. "If only you understood…"

"I don't appreciate someone who lies to me twice!" Amy raised her voice. "I tried to be nice but I have lost my patience." Amy turned around and walked away from the two of them. Leonard gave a smirk.

"That'll teach you to try and steal another man's girl … again." Leonard walked down the hallway and around the corner. Sheldon assumed Leonard was referring to both him and Amy's husband. Sheldon walked after Amy but she had disappeared. He sighed and decided to just walk back to his office.

#

Sheldon spent the afternoon going through his brain to sketch the portal design. This was easy since he had already done this before in his previous universe and he could remember it. But since it was a complex design it took him the rest of the afternoon to complete. He then wrote a list of all the equipment and materials that he would need to obtain. When he finished that he decided what he needed to do next was find the prices as they might be different to what they were in his old universe. As he began to research this he heard a knock on his door. He looked up and it was Penny in her work clothes.

"Hello Sheldon." She smiled when she said this. Sheldon frantically put away all his designs in his briefcase so Penny wouldn't see them. "What are you doing?" she asked when she noticed this.

"This is all my notes for my paper." He lied "They aren't finished yet."

"I understand." She said "You don't want me stealing your genius ideas."

"Yes that is it." Sheldon nodded. He did not a parallel universe travelling Penny on the loose.

"Well it is time for me to drive us home now." Penny informed him.

"But I still have work to do." Sheldon made an excuse. "I think I should stay here for more time."

Penny looked down at the ground.

"Are you feeling sad or foot pain?" Sheldon asked because he couldn't tell

"Sad because this is the second night in a row that we aren't having dinner together." Penny told him.

"Well that was kind of your doing last night for storming out of here." Sheldon stated.

Penny giggled. "I know I kind of jumped to conclusions." She said. At this moment Sheldon's stomach rumbled.

"When was the last time you ate?" Penny asked.

"Lunchtime." Sheldon told her.

"Lunch! You need to eat right away!" Penny was concerned.

"I will eat I promise!" Sheldon just wanted her to leave at this point.

"Okay I don't want you fainting or anything." Penny said. "How are going to get home?"

"I'll ask Raj." Sheldon began to get frustrated as he really wanted to work.

"Ok sweety." Penny began to wave. "See ya later."

"Bye Penny." Sheldon looked as Penny turned and walked out of his office. He noted that she still looked sad.

#

Sheldon hated to admit it but Penny was right, he was very hungry. He texted Raj and he replied saying that he'd take him home in an hour. He went to a vending machine and bought a packet of chips and a coke. He knew it was unhealthy and against his schedule but he was VERY hungry.

As he ate and refuelled himself an idea that involved Amy popped into his head and he decided he needed to act on it immediately. Sheldon walked to the biology area with his briefcase full of designs and calculations and saw that Amy did not have the same office as before but she did occupy the office next to it. Sheldon knocked on her door.

"Who is it?" he heard Amy from behind the door. He almost screeched in nervousness.

"It is Sheldon Cooper." He told her.

"What do you want?" Amy asked.

"I want to talk to you!" Sheldon told her.

There was a short pause before Amy spoke again. "What is it?" Amy questioned. Sheldon noticed that she was not opening the door.

"Do you mind if I come in?" Sheldon asked.

"Sure but stay at the door." Amy insisted.

Sheldon opened the door and saw Amy holding a can of pepper spray and a phone.

"If you dare do anything shifty I'll dial campus police." She warned.

"Oh!" Sheldon realised that Amy thought he may want to have sex with her, given what Leonard said to her earlier. "No! I don't want anything shifty either!"

"Then what do you want?" Amy asked.

"I just want to explain my actions like I was going to." Sheldon said "Because if anyone is smart enough to understand it is most likely you."

"Ok." Amy was still cautious but was beginning to get curious.

"Well I built a machine that…" Sheldon paused for a second. "…that is able to travel to different parallel universes."

Amy's eyes opened wide. "What?" she asked in disbelief

"I understand that this maybe hard to believe…."

"Dr. Cooper." Amy interrupted "'Hard to believe' might be an understatement. My husband is a physicist and I've been observing his field of study for some time now and I know it is impossible to travel between different parallel universes."

"Amy this is true!" Sheldon attempted to convince her. He reached for his briefcase and grabbed his designs. He put them on the desk in front of her. "Read this design. I have calculations to go with it but I don't think a neurobiologist would be able to understand physics that is that complicated."

Amy looked at the design several times whilst Sheldon awaited a response. "Very nice Dr. Cooper. This is a nice design that is only theoretical and has never actually been built."

"It has been built already." Sheldon insisted "I built it and it works."

"You've travelled to another parallel universe?" Amy asked immediately. "Wait! Why am I even asking this? Of course you didn't."

"I did Amy!" Sheldon said. "But the thing is this is the 'other parallel universe'!"

Amy shook her head in disbelief. "I can't believe this. You are crazy."

"Amy you have to believe me! This is why I lied before!" Sheldon exclaimed "And are your neurobiological lie detectors going off?"

Amy stopped herself for a second. "No they aren't. Your facial tic from before is completely gone." She thought aloud "It is possible you've learnt to control it but in a few hours?"

Suddenly there was a knock a door. Sheldon hadn't noticed that when he was trying convince Amy that he had wondered in the room. He turned to see the man who he recognised from the wedding photo with Amy. Sheldon felt a sudden twinge of jealousy and immediately put the papers back in his briefcase.

"Hello Ames." He greeted her and Sheldon noticed a British accent. "And… Dr. Sheldon Cooper!" he suddenly seemed excited.

"Calm down Dave!" Amy demanded.

"I've always wanted to talk to you but I've always been too nervous." He stated.

"Well Amy and I were having a private conversation so you should wait in the hallway." Sheldon said.

Amy stood up from her seat and began to pack up her stuff. "I'm sorry Dr. Cooper but Dave and I have got to go home now."

"Can I come with?" Sheldon asked. "I can maybe continue to explain my predicament to you."

"Oh definitely not…" Amy began to say.

"Of course you can!" Dave said excitedly. "I can't wait to hear about your current research!"

"Well Dr. Cooper is talking about parallel…"

"SSSSHHHH!" Sheldon interrupted "I am not sure if I want to tell him."

Amy took a deep breath and rolled her eyes. "Fine." Amy finished packing her things. "Let's go." The three walked out of the room.

#

"Sheldon, it is time to go…" Raj walked to Sheldon's office and saw the door was locked. He knocked but no one answered. "Odd." He thought. He called Sheldon on his phone but got no answer. He then called Penny.

"Hello." Penny answered.

"Sheldon isn't here."

"What?" Penny exclaimed.

"I called him but got no answer." Raj explained. Raj's phone was interrupted by a text message which was from Sheldon.

 _I forgot you existed for some time. I have found another ride home. Don't worry about me. – Sheldon._

"What is it?" Penny asked.

"Sheldon found another way home." Raj told her.

"Well that is a relief." Penny breathed a sigh of relief. "Did it say who?" she asked.

"Nope." Raj said. "I guess you'll have to trust him."

"I guess so." Penny sounded sad. She hoped that he was going to come home soon. And that he wasn't lying.

 **I'm not sure if I am happy with this chapter but it is necessary because it introduces Sheldon to Amy and this effects the entire story from here onwards. Thanks for reading and I hoped you enjoyed something in this chapter. Please favourite, follow or review as I love receiving any form of feedback. Thanks SRAM, Gamenerd 808, JessicaWarren, michiamoverano, glenncocodotcom(x2), NorthernLights94, kelli.k and a guest for reviewing since I last updated. Thanks again.**

 **Clint Cooper**


	4. Chapter 4

Sheldon suspected that Amy did not want him in her kitchen given that she thought he was crazy. The only reason he'd managed to stay was Dave who had been enthralled by him and kept asking about his research.

"Are you staying for dinner?" Dave asked enthusiastically.

"What are you two having?" Sheldon questioned.

"Usually when we've both had busy days at work we just order some take-away." Amy stated.

"Oh I eat take-away all the time with…" Sheldon stopped himself from saying anyone's name. He reverted his sentence. "Yes I like take-away."

"So you'll be staying?" Dave asked.

"Yes." Sheldon nodded.

"I'll order a pizza." Amy told them.

"Order the meat lovers pizza!" Sheldon requested. "Pizzas stacked with meat remind me of the pizza my mother used to make me." He told Dave.

"How sweet." He heard Amy say sarcastically. She picked up the phone and began ordering the pizza.

"You needn't have requested meat lover's pizza." Dave said. "That is also Amy's favourite!"

"I know that." Sheldon said without thinking.

"How so?" Dave asked "I've asked Amy about you and she said she saw you sometimes but you never interacted…"

Sheldon gulped. "It's hard to explain." He said honestly. "But I promise I am not a creep."

"Pizza is ordered and should be here in fifteen minutes." Amy interrupted "So what are you talking about?"

"How Sheldon knows what your favourite pizza is." Dave said.

"Did he try and tell you about…" Amy began.

"No Amy I didn't!" Sheldon interrupted.

"He probably saw me eating it once at one of the Science Faculty Pizza Parties. I can tell he has a good memory." Amy rationalised.

"There are Science Faculty Pizza Parties?" Sheldon asked and Amy nodded "When I get back I should introduce those."

"Dr. Cooper why exactly did you come with us?" Amy asked.

"I wanted to continue to talk to you about what I was talking to you about." Sheldon said hinting at their earlier conversation about the parallel universes.

Amy rolled her eyes. "If you want to talk about it you have to tell Dave. You can even show him the maths since he is a physicist."

"He might try and steal it!" Sheldon thought aloud.

"I won't steal anything of yours Dr. Cooper!" Dave insisted.

"Would you be willing to sign a confidentiality agreement?" Sheldon asked.

"No he wouldn't." Amy shook her head.

"Yes." Dave agreed.

"Fine." Sheldon opened his briefcase and took out a piece of paper. "Luckily I always carry around some spares in my briefcase." It was an agreement but had blanks to fill in the name and what was meant to be confidential. Sheldon took a pen and wrote in them. He handed it to Dave and Dave signed immediately.

"So tell me!" Dave reminded Sheldon of when he was finally watching a movie he'd been anticipating for years.

"Okay." Sheldon took a deep breath but before he could say anything he saw his phone begin to buzz and he saw that it was Penny calling him.

"Do you need to get that?" Amy asked.

"Oh no." Sheldon shook his head and swiped to not answer it.

"So…" Dave waited.

"Okay." Sheldon began again but the phone buzzed again. Sheldon ignored it again and continued to tell them. "For the past few months I have been working on finding a way to travel to parallel universes…"

"What?" Dave said with shock.

"Yes and each day at 2:45 I went to the university basement and worked on calculations and then designs for a machine that would produce a wormhole that was able to travel to different parallel universes. Once I completed that I built it and it worked..."

"This is ridiculous." Amy shook her head.

"Don't interrupt Amy." Dave said. "Anyways…"

"I tested it and on my forty-forth trial I managed to travel to another parallel universe." Sheldon explained.

"What was it like?" Dave asked.

"I can't believe you are falling for this Dave! You are being a gullible fanboy!" Amy stated "And Dr. Cooper your phone keeps buzzing like crazy!" Sheldon gave Amy a look of derision as he turned his phone off.

"I assure you this is no April fool's joke." Sheldon said. He opened his briefcase and brought out the calculations and designs that he'd spent the day drawing up. "Here are my designs and math for you to look at."

Dave excitedly grabbed them and began reading. He took his time reading them and Sheldon noticed his eyes constantly moving over the paper, like he was too excited to look at just one part. Sheldon sat in a nervous silence as Dave read and the only thing he heard was the front door bell ringing and Amy answering it, to find the pizza had arrived.

"Pizza is here!" Amy informed them and she put it on the kitchen counter.

"Just a minute Ames." Dave said as he continued to read. Amy didn't wait so she opened the pizza box and began to eat a piece. Sheldon stood up and also began to eat.

"What are you doing Dr. Cooper?" Amy asked.

"Please call me Sheldon." He insisted.

"What are you doing Sheldon?" Amy repeated "Is this just some kind of sick joke you play on a naive physicists? Do you want to humiliate him because he works for 'a lesser' university than us? Is this because you want to have sex with me like Dr. Hofstadter said?"

"Amy you have never been more incorrect." Sheldon stated "All I am saying is real!"

"Sheldon!" he heard Dave call for him. "I've looked over the calculations quickly and I don't understand this part." He pointed to the last page.

"That is the part where many other scientists have faltered. I figured out a way to solve the 28 independent simultaneous equations to find out what the…"

"So you understood the math?" Amy asked Dave.

"Most of it." Dave said "Clearly I am not smart as Dr. Cooper but it has been like I've been reading a mystery novel and all the hints throughout it finally make sense and the mystery is solved!"

"I told you it was good!" Sheldon gleamed with pride.

"I can't believe this!" Amy said.

"It all adds up Ames. If this looked like some kind of trick I'd tell you!" Dave insisted.

Amy took a deep breath and looked really confused. Sheldon knew this must have been hard for her to deal with, whether not she believed him yet.

Dave picked up a piece of pizza and began to eat it. After several bites he thought of something else to say. "You never told us about the parallel universe you went to."

"That is because this is the parallel universe." Sheldon informed. Dave gave a shocked look.

"Okay maybe your math may somehow be correct but surely that is false!" Amy insisted.

"I wish it were false to be honest because now I have no way to get back to my actual universe unless I build my wormhole generator again." Sheldon told them.

"So why don't you?" Dave asked.

"I don't have the money. Leonard has a grudge against me in this universe and won't give me anymore." Sheldon informed him.

Amy looked at his face with a confused expression on her face. "You show no signs of lying but nothing you say sounds real. It is like two parts of my thoughts are having a debate."

"I believe him." Dave nodded.

"You're biased because you are a fan of him." Amy shrugged this off.

Sheldon gave Amy a sincere look. He was glad that Dave believed him but Amy was going to be even harder to convince. He needed to do so because he knew he could trust and rely on Amy, even in this odd world, and he desperately needed help.

"To be honest I don't understand why you have come to us for help." Amy said "Why not someone like the girl who you took from Leonard."

"She is too different from her 'other universe' self to trust." Sheldon informed. "you aren't as you are still a sharp-thinking neurobiologist."

"So you knew us back there?" Dave questioned. "Can you tell us about it?"

"I guess I can." He said "But I only knew Amy."

"Yes, tell us about me." Amy said "If this parallel universe exists and I am in it surely some things are the same."

"That is probably true. I assume that whatever events that caused this universe to be different occurred after we were all born given how we are all still the same physically." Sheldon told her.

"Smart thinking Dr. Cooper." Dave complimented.

"Anyway, I know Amy because in 'my universe' we were dating." Sheldon informed them.

"Given all you have said that is not the hardest thing to believe." Amy said with derision.

"In my universe we met because my friends Howard and Raj signed me up for online dating and the site matched us up. We met but instead of dating we just remained friends. However after some time I realised I had feelings for you and asked you to be my 'girlfriend' which you accepted. When I left we were still happily dating." Sheldon told them.

"I guess we didn't end up together in every universe like I said in my wedding speech." Dave said sadly to Amy.

Amy shook her head. "Great story Dr. Cooper but if what you say is true then tell me something private. Something only I would tell to a prominent romantic partner." She requested.

Sheldon had no idea what to say given how anything his Amy said to him could be different in this universe. He had to think very far back to a moment in Amy's childhood as this would be more likely to be true. About one minute into thinking he found the perfect one.

"My Amy didn't tell anyone this because she felt too embarrassed by it. When she was four years old she accidentally broke one of her mother's china plates so she put it on her father's desk so she wouldn't get into trouble. When her mother saw it there she thought that her father did it and the two got into a large argument and he left the house. He didn't return and the two divorced soon after. Amy always blamed herself for it." Sheldon explained.

Amy's mouth was open in shock and it looked like tears were beginning to form her eyes. "What the hell? I never told anyone my side of the story! Not even Dave!"

"Curious that you didn't." Sheldon thought. Did that mean his Amy actually cared for him more than he thought?

"I realise that the argument I started was the last of many arguments and that just nudged them over the line but… but…" Amy began to cry.

"Don't cry Ames." Dave gave her a comforting hug.

"But I've always thought that if there were a world that I didn't do that they might be still together and my mother wouldn't be the control freak she turned into!" Amy said with tears going down her face.

"That is possible given my research." Sheldon stated. "But do you now believe my story?"

Amy kept crying and said nothing.

"Please Amy! I need your, and surprisingly, Dave's help to get me back home." Sheldon insisted.

Amy looked up at him. "That point-of-view of my parent's final marital argument is something that I've never told anyone. That is the only reason why I am going along with this crazy story of yours."

"So you're going to help me?" Sheldon asked hopefully.

She sighed. "Yes I will BUT if I see any sign that your story is false I will stop immediately and report you to human resources or even the police!"

"Are you really helping me?" Sheldon asked for clarification. Amy nodded. "Thank you so much!" Sheldon felt the urge to hug and kiss her but he felt Dave staring at him.

"I knew she would come around eventually." Dave gave a smile.

Sheldon was happy that he got Amy's help even though he had to tell that depressing private story to them. Now he hoped with their help that he'd be able to get back.

#

"Why is Sheldon not answering his phone?" Penny asked with frustration. She was in her apartment with Howard and Raj.

"Do you think he is trying to avoid you?" Raj questioned.

"Sheldon has been acting so shifty lately. And now we don't know where has gone!" Penny began to panic.

Suddenly the door opened and they turned to see Sheldon walk in.

"Where have you been?" Penny hastened over to him and kissed him on the lips. Sheldon reactively pulled away.

"I was working on my paper and I turned my phone off so I wouldn't be distracted." Sheldon lied.

"How did you get home then?" Penny interrogated "You texted Raj that you found someone else to take you home hours ago!"

Sheldon thought of another lie and felt his face twitch. "I wasn't in my office because I was in someone else's office as I needed someone else's help with the paper. After we finished I got that person to take me home."

"And who is this person?" Penny asked. Sheldon accidentally let out a yawn.

"I'm sorry but I'm really tired and can't concentrate on anything. You don't know how much work I had to do today. I'll see you in the morning." Sheldon hurriedly rushed to the bedroom before Penny could ask any more questions.

"Did you see that?" Penny turned to Raj and Howard.

"Sheldon has always been standoffish." Howard stated. "Just give him some time."

"I need to know what is up with him." Penny said. "Can you two help me?"

"If you want I can follow him about when I'm free, see where is he going." Raj said helpfully.

"Thank you so much." Penny thanked. "I need to know what he is doing!"

 **Thanks so much for reading! This chapter was better for me to write and I very much enjoyed it because I got to play around with Amy's confusion and Sheldon's desperation to get back to his universe. For the record this story takes place around season 6 so that is why he doesn't know who Dave is. Please favourite, follow or review if you want to leave feedback. Thanks bamadude, glenncocodotcom, Napolaj, michiamoverano, kelli.k, SRAM, JessicaWarren and Gamenerd 808 for reviewing since I last updated. Thanks again.**

 **Clint Cooper**


	5. Chapter 5

Sheldon fell asleep immediately after the long day of trying to convince Amy that he came from a parallel universe. When he woke up the next day he found himself next to a loudly snoring Penny and he almost had a panic attack. He jumped out of the bed reactively.

"What is wrong sweety?" Penny asked mid-snore.

"I realised how hungry I've become." He blatantly lied and rushed out the room.

He began to get himself his breakfast and get ready for the day. Penny slept in for a really long time after he woke up but she eventually dragged herself out of bed.

"I was missing you in the bed." Penny said in a mushy voice. Sheldon shuddered a little at this sentence.

"I was in the kitchen Penny!" Sheldon stated "You must have abandonment issues in this universe!"

"I do not have abandonment issues." Penny ignored the last part of Sheldon's sentence "I have trust issues. Completely different."

"They have similarities." Sheldon began to rant "I read Beverly Hofstadter's book about…"

"Not that b-word." Penny said with implied history.

Sheldon didn't know why Penny was against Beverly Hofstadter but he suspected it had something to do with Leonard. Sheldon wasn't immensely curious about this fixation so he prepared his work materials for the day including the briefcase full of designs and his laptop.

Penny drove them to work. During the trip she kept giving Sheldon suspicious looks which made him uncomfortable. He couldn't think of a reason why Penny would be paranoid but she did apparently have trust issues. He didn't care about his relationship with her but couldn't think of a thing he did wrong. Talking to Amy wasn't against any relationship conventions.

When Penny and Sheldon walked into the Caltech science department they saw Raj who seemed to be standing by the nearby water cooler.

"Good morning Sheldon and Penny." He greeted.

"Salutations." Sheldon followed the social convention. Penny said goodbye to them and the two began to walk to their offices.

"How was your night?" Raj asked. "You looked tired when I saw you."

"You know those days where you work so hard in the day that you just don't want to do anything after?" Sheldon questioned.

"Yes." Raj nodded. "I had that when I spent that week in the telescope room and I was looking for the dwarf planet that was caused that radiation scare…"

"Well I've had that with this paper I've been working on." Sheldon told him.

"Did you make any breakthroughs?" Raj asked.

"I'm sorry but I'd like to keep this private." He informed him.

"Why?" Raj gave him a distrustful look.

"You know I have paranoid idiosyncrasies." He stated. At least he assumed he knew. The two had made to the front of Sheldon's office.

"Well I'll see you later." Raj said as they stood in front of it.

"Yes." Sheldon nodded and waited for Raj to walk away. He didn't intend to stay here and after Raj left him alone he was going to find Amy's office. He didn't want Raj to know about Amy. The less he knew about this the calmer everything would be and he knew Raj liked gossiping. At least he did back at home.

"Well here is your office." Raj said.

"You are correct." Sheldon nodded.

"And when people go to work they typically go in their offices." He said with a judgemental tone.

"Well…" Sheldon tried to think. "Maybe some people are being polite and waiting for their friend to leave before they enter." Sheldon didn't know if this was actually a social construct but it wouldn't be odd if he got this wrong.

"Of course." Raj said. "But I won't be offended if you enter it."

Sheldon couldn't help give an annoyed look. To keep up appearances he unlocked the door and walked in. "So goodbye Raj." He said.

Raj nodded. "Goodbye Sheldon." He turned and walked away. Sheldon let out a deep sigh and waited several minutes so Raj had gone to his office. He then left with his briefcase and laptop and headed for Amy's office.

#

Sheldon arrived at Amy's office and knocked on the door.

"Who is it?" he heard Amy's familiar voice. It was nice to hear it after spending the morning with Penny.

"Sheldon." He stated.

"Come in!" she allowed.

He walked in and shut the door. He saw her in her lab coat and there were several monkeys in the room. It seemed she was working on something.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt your experiment." Sheldon attempted to be nice given he needed Amy's help.

"No I hadn't started yet." She told him. "I just got dressed for it."

"Oh. I just wondered when you wanted to help me with my dilemma." He said.

"I guess I can help and experiment on Monkeys at the same time." She said. "I am experimenting on their brain activity in relationship to different physical activities."

"Cool." Sheldon said looking at the machine Amy had in front of her which measured brain activity. "I remember my Amy doing something similar." Sheldon noticed Amy look startled at the mention of a different Amy.

Amy typed on her computer for a second and then turned to Sheldon. "I'm still not sure if this Parallel Universe story is true but there is something that I've been wondering."

"What?" Sheldon queried.

"Where is the Sheldon from this universe?" Amy asked.

This had been something that had crossed Sheldon's mind but given there were no problems so far in relation to this he'd chosen to ignore it.

"I honestly don't know." he told her.

"So you don't have any idea?" Amy asked.

Sheldon shook his head no. "I remember the day I first arrived here Penny was looking for him. There is the possibility that he went missing in this universe and I arrived with perfect timing. But I've had a more nightmarish thought: maybe he switched with me and is running rampant in my universe." The thought of a Penny-loving Sheldon being with his Amy made him shudder. Sheldon sat down on a seat in the lab. "But the most important thing for me now is to find a way back."

"And you think the only way to do that is to build the machine again." Amy re-iterated.

"I have found no other way that I can travel to parallel universes." Sheldon told her.

Amy walked to the monkeys and began to work with them. "If you want to keep discussing stuff you can keep talking. I'll just be working."

"I need to order some of the materials." Sheldon got out his laptop. "I don't really have any need to talk to anyone."

"Ok." Amy responded with a thoughtful look on her face like she wondering something. She then continued to work with the monkeys.

"Ok." Sheldon said awkwardly and turned his head towards his laptop. The two were silent as they worked.

#

Sheldon couldn't help notice how odd it felt sitting in Amy's office. It was so silent that he could hear every footstep in the outside hall. Every now and then he saw her give him a distrustful look. This silence was completely different to when he and Amy would sit in silence back in his previous universe because there was a sense of trust between them. He did trust this Amy but she didn't trust him which saddened him a little. Thoughts like this are what distracted him as he ordered what he needed online.

"Do you want to get lunch?" Amy interrupted his thoughts as she washed her hands. Sheldon realised it was nearly twelve and that he was very hungry. He'd noticed he often neglected important things like food when he had important issues on his mind.

"I would like to get lunch." Sheldon stood up. "But I can't have it with you."

"Why?" Amy asked and she looked a little offended.

"I just don't want Penny to find out about you. Don't need stress or trouble as I make my machine." He explained.

Amy gave a suspicious look. "Ok." She said. She opened the door to her office and waited for him to walk out so she could lock it. He walked out and as Amy locked the door he made a head-start to the cafeteria. This way he'd arrive at a different time and no one would suspect anything.

#

Sheldon walked into the cafeteria and bought a cheeseburger. He walked over to the tables and saw Howard and Raj sitting at a table. When they noticed Sheldon enter the room they whispered something to each other. Sheldon thought this was odd but he sat down across from anyways.

"Hello Sheldon." Howard greeted.

"Hello." Sheldon adhered to social convention.

"So how was your morning?" Raj asked.

"Uneventful." Sheldon lied.

"I noticed when I went to your office that it was locked." Raj commented.

"What do you mean?" Sheldon asked.

"Well when you aren't harping at our office door to go to lunch one of us usually comes to yours politely." Howard implied some hypocrisy "But today when we went to your office your door was locked. We waited for five minutes but you didn't appear."

"Well I must've…" Sheldon paused to think of a lie. "I must've… gone to the bathroom."

"But that wasn't one of your schedule bathroom breaks." Raj got his phone out and showed a schedule. It was different to the one back in his universe. "I don't think Dr. Sheldon Cooper would stray from his schedule."

"For the record I stray from my schedule an embarrassing amount of times." Sheldon said. "For example yesterday I stayed late at work despite what my schedule said. And you two have just judged me for being late for lunch sometimes!"

"You are tangenting." Howard interrupted.

"Can't someone have an extra big smoothie for breakfast due to a craving and not be judged!" Sheldon made up a lie and stood angrily as if he were offended. "I don't feel like I should be interrogated whilst I try and enjoy my cheeseburger! I'll eat my lunch elsewhere!" Sheldon was impressed even at the fake scene he just caused. He walked away from the cafeteria. He saw Amy who had just gotten her food but didn't stop walking.

#

"Hello Penny" Raj said through the phone. "I hope we aren't interrupting."

"Oh, hello!" Penny said "I am just in the middle of running some experiments so I am just waiting for some data be to be collected. Why the call?"

"We have been following Sheldon like you told us." Raj explained "And I think he has been lying to you."

There was a sudden pause at the other end of the phone. "What?" Penny eventually managed to say.

"Are you sure you want to hear us say this?" Raj asked concernedly.

There were muffled noises at the other end of the phone. Raj and Howard gave each other confused looks. "Penny?" Raj asked if she was there. Another few moment of silence and she finally spoke again.

"Please tell me guys." She said. "I don't think prolonging it will stop any pain."

"Well he wasn't in his office and when we asked him about this he said he was in the bathroom." Raj explained.

"So what is wrong?" Penny asked.

"Sheldon lied. We followed him from his office to the biology labs where he spent the entire morning in a lab." Raj continued.

"Maybe he is dipping his toes in some biology." Penny thought aloud.

"That is not it." Raj said "We walked past the lab and the name on the door was Amy Farrah-Fowler."

"What?" Penny almost shrieked. "He told us about some Amy two nights ago!"

"I know!" Raj exclaimed "I don't know who this Amy is but it is not the physics part of his head!"

An unfamiliar woman with long brown hair and glasses sitting at a nearby cafeteria table suddenly stood up with her lunch and rushed out the door. Raj decided to ignore this and keep listening to Penny.

"I can't believe this!" Penny began to panic "Do you think he is having an affair?"

"I don't know." Raj said "But I will find some more. I couldn't ask him about it because I didn't want him to know we were following him."

"Well screw that!" Penny said in anger. "I have to know who Amy is! Ask him now!"

"Ok Penny, keep calm." Raj stated. "One thing though. Did Sheldon drink a big smoothie for breakfast?"

"No." Penny said.

"Well he lied about that too." Raj said.

"To be fair I woke up like 2 hours after he did." Penny said. There was a beeping noise from the other end "I have to go Raj! Goodbye." Penny said.

"Bye." Raj said just in time before she hung up.

"I can't believe we have to ask him about this." Howard said. "What if he never trusts us again?"

"Let's just ask him man-to-man." Raj said and he gave him a comforting kiss. "Come on!" The two stood up and left the cafeteria.

#

Sheldon did not want to go back to his office because people he knew but didn't want to talk to would find him there. He wanted to go back to Amy's office but it was locked. So instead he walked around the lab area whilst eating his lunch. After an exhausting ten minutes he saw Amy walking towards him.

"Finally." He sighed in relief.

"I heard two people in the cafeteria talking about me." She said with worry.

"How does this involve me?" Sheldon asked with confusion.

"Well they also mentioned you." Amy said.

"Maybe they were talking about Nobel prizes…"

"Don't try and flatter me Sheldon!" Amy interrupted.

"I wasn't. But I understand if it seems that way given my honest demeanour." Sheldon said. "Nonetheless, who were the people who have gotten you worried?"

"I don't know their names but they seem familiar because I work at the same place. One was an Indian and the other was scrawny." Amy explained.

"Oh I think you mean Howard and Raj." Sheldon nodded. "But what you say doesn't make any sense. They shouldn't know who you are!"

"Well they seem to. They also mentioned something about following you to someone on the phone…"

"Penny!" Sheldon exclaimed. "I should have guessed 'smarter Penny' came up with something sneaky!"

"I'm sorry your girlfriend doesn't trust you." Amy said sarcastically. "I've got to get back to work. Are you going to spend some more time in my office?"

"I can't. They might see me again." Sheldon thought aloud. "Do you mind I come to your house tomorrow to continue? I doubt they'd be able to find us there."

"Sure. Dave and I aren't doing anything tomorrow. He'd be more help anyways due to his physics background." Amy said. Amy gave Sheldon a confused look. Sheldon began to feel uncomfortable from Amy's stare.

"Why are you looking me like that?" Sheldon asked. "It is making me socially anxious!"

"I am just trying to figure you out." Amy said. Amy shook her head in disbelief and walked away to her office. "See you tomorrow Sheldon." She said politely as she did so.

"Goodbye!" Sheldon shouted.

Sheldon had finished his lunch. He knew Penny would continue to use Howard and Raj as her spies so going to his office would involve awkward encounters with them. Sheldon needed to check what machines they had at the university so he decided instead to go to the physics laboratories. Penny was an experimental physicist which meant she might be there. She surely wouldn't be suspicious if he went to see her…

 **Thanks for reading. This chapter is pretty much people being suspicious of Sheldon and him awkwardly dealing with that :D I've been busy with college and other issues so this took a while to write. Next chapter will involve some more awkward moments for Sheldon and I am looking forward to writing it. If you liked please favourite, follow or review. Thanks bamadude, coolshamyshipper, glenncocodotcom, trelayna, kelli.k, SRAM, Gamenerd 808, jessmarkbrOMGtheydid, michiamoverano, JessicaWarren, Stargazer2001 and a guest for reviewing since my last update. Thanks again.**

 **Clint Cooper**

 **Edit: I've changed my username to reflect my BBT writing so please don't get confused :D :D :D**


	6. Chapter 6

Sheldon walked to the experimental physics labs. Whenever he went down there he felt like a Gryffindor going down to the murky Slytherin dungeons and it still felt like this in this universe. The labs were nothing compared to clean calmness of his thought bubble of an office. The experimental physicists always seemed in a hurry and everything seemed cluttered and messy. He saw why Penny might fit in there.

Sheldon checked the machines he might need to build his machine. He found himself getting in the way of experimental physicists working in each lab but they all seemed to know about Sheldon's annoying tendencies so it didn't seem odd. Some even walked out of their labs without question to give him space. There was one more machine he needed to check and one more lab left to check, the one he'd been avoiding. He saw the name on the lab's door being Penny's and he took a deep breath. He hesitantly knocked on the door. He heard talking on the other side of the door before a response was given.

"Who is it?" he heard Penny's voice.

"It is me! Sheldon!" He told her.

Penny opened the door and he saw she had an annoyed expression on her face. There was also another person standing in the room. The fashionable clothing almost got him confused but he eventually saw it was Leonard.

"Oh look who is wasting time seeing his girlfriend." He said with judgement.

"What are you doing here?" Sheldon asked.

"I am doing financial work. I am checking costs of equipment and what might need upgrading or removing." Leonard told him. Sheldon noticed he was carrying a tablet which probably was his work tool. "I'd appreciate it if you go away and let people work. Some people don't have sex all day!"

"Leonard!" Penny said angrily "Please don't be rude!"

"I'm not going to listen to you Penny!" Leonard said "If you wanted to be listened to you should have become my girlfriend."

"OH MY GOSH LEONARD!" Penny was almost shouting "WHEN ARE YOU JUST GOING TO MOVE ON?! WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO STOP HARRASING US BECAUSE I LOVE HIM AND NOT YOU?!"

Sheldon found it hard to tell what emotions Leonard was feeling at that very moment. His facial expression didn't change and he didn't move for about half-a-minute. Eventually he sighed and turned around to the equipment.

"Well I'll get back to work whilst you two smooch." He said. Penny rolled her eyes and decided to ignore Leonard.

"What are you doing here sweety?" she asked. She looked at him with a sense of caution. Sheldon wondered if it was because Leonard was in the room.

"I wanted to see you of course." Sheldon lied.

"Oh gosh, I feel like throwing up!" Leonard remarked whilst noting something on his IPad.

"I also wanted to check out some of the machines in case I needed to use them for my paper." Sheldon ignored Leonard and used his 'paper' as an excuse.

"You know you can always ask me if you need some theoretical physics for your paper." She offered with a wink.

"Oh this is just a hypothetical 'just in case' scenario." Sheldon fibbed. He stepped closer to the machines, and unfortunately Leonard was standing in front of them. He did however see the final machine that he needed. He was suddenly happy that the university still had one in this universe. This Penny must've been a pretty good physicist if she had the machine in her lab.

"Perfect." Sheldon smiled when he said this.

"What are you staring at?" Leonard asked. Sheldon was very annoyed at his infinitely aggressive tone.

"Just a machine." He said.

"Remarks like that about my body will not be appreciated in the work place!" Leonard said. Sheldon had no idea what Leonard was talking about. He saw in his side vision that Penny was shaking her head in frustration.

"I don't understand what you mean but for clarification purposes I meant that machine." Sheldon pointed to the machine behind Leonard.

"Oh this." Leonard nodded. "Why are you curious about it?"

"I might be interested in using it." Sheldon explained.

"Curious." Leonard said. He paused for a second. "I was thinking of removing this machine for budgetary purposes."

"I need that!" Penny exclaimed "I have several very important hypothesis to prove from some VERY annoying physicists."

"Well Sheldon will just have to wait." Leonard stated.

"I didn't mean Sheldon!" Penny had a glare in her eyes.

"But I might still need this machine!" He was angry at Leonard because he needed to use that machine to build his wormhole generator.

"Too bad." Leonard stated with a smirk on his face.

There was an interrupting knock at the door.

"Who the HELL is it now?!" Penny seemed angry "Who is IT?"

"Raj and I." They heard Howard's voice. He seemed nervous, or constipated, to Sheldon. Penny sighed and opened the door.

"Penny, we couldn't find…." Raj began to talk to Penny

"Raj!" Penny interrupted quickly. Raj and Howard had just noticed both Sheldon and Leonard in the room. Sheldon wondered if the person they couldn't find was him given that they were being used as spies for Penny. Something about the five of them being in a room together was familiar.

"Was there a party we weren't invited to?" Howard joked. Leonard rolled his eyes.

"Wow you two have not changed at all." Leonard shook his head "Except now you've labelled your relationship as a romantic one. What a joke!"

"Grow up Leonard." Penny said. "For your information their relationship is real and beautiful! They are even going to get a child this weekend! Sheldon and I are going with to support them!"

"What?" Sheldon interrupted "I can't do anything this weekend!"

"We don't have anything planned." Penny looked confused.

"I need to work on my paper!" Sheldon argued. He actually intended to spend the entire weekend working with Amy.

"Well you can just bring your laptop then." Penny suggested.

"I need to stay!" Sheldon argued. "I can't work on a road trip!"

"It is okay Penny." Howard said "We don't mind if he stays."

Penny looked angry once again. "No Sheldon! You are coming!"

"Well you two have crazy problems." Leonard laughed. "I'll send someone to collect the machine later today. And also Dr. Cooper…"

"What Leonard?" Sheldon asked.

"I noticed an alarming amount of money spent this morning from your account. I'm going to have to close your accounts until an inspection happens which won't be until next week." Leonard gave a smile.

"You can't do that!" Sheldon complained. He knew the money he was talking about was when he was ordering important materials that morning. But he still needed more money. The money that Leonard was taking away was already not enough. "There is no rule in the university laws that states I can't spend as much of my grant money in a small amount of time!"

"I can do it!" Leonard said. "Because I control the accounts." He walked out of the room with a confident swagger, something which seemed odd for Sheldon who was used to seeing Leonard with low self-esteem.

"I need to do some work before Leonard takes my machine away." Penny complained. She stared straight at Sheldon "We'll talk about going with them at home." Sheldon gulped at this.

"Ok." He nodded.

"Now everyone please leave." She suddenly seemed a lot calmer now Leonard had left. The three obeyed and left the room.

#

Sheldon did not want to go with Howard and Raj to get their new baby. He needed to get some work done and he already told Amy he was going to their house the next day which was Saturday, the day Raj and Howard were going to be leaving to get their child. And of course Penny wanted him to go with them.

He needed to find a way to avoid Penny, Howard and Raj all weekend. He knew he'd already gotten Amy's permission to come over the next day but Sheldon had to think of a way of getting there whilst avoiding Penny's 'junior rodeo' mode….

"Sheldon?" Raj interrupted his thoughts. "You seem distant." They'd recently left Penny's laboratory.

"I'm sorry Raj." He apologised even though he didn't actually feel any remorse. "It is just this paper I am working on. I've been thinking about it with every free moment"

"I understand." Howard nodded. "When I had to build that deflector for the space station I kept thinking of the math over and over…"

"Seriously Howard?" Sheldon interrupted "Comparing your petty engineering problems to my physicist ones!" Howard had an annoyed facial expression suddenly.

"Who is Amy, Sheldon?" Howard asked in anger over this. Sheldon looked shocked. "Yes we know where you were this morning."

"The stress of having a baby must be doing tricks on your brain…"

"Sheldon we followed you this morning and saw you go into Amy Farrah-Fowler's office." Raj explained. Sheldon already suspected this given what Amy told him.

"You… I… me… well…" Sheldon tried to think of something to say.

"Yes?" they both asked simultaneously.

"I've got to go perform an experiment." Sheldon lied. "I'll talk to you later." He quickly turned around and began to walk in the opposite direction of where they were going.

"What kind of experiment?" Howard shouted.

"Not an engineering one, that's for sure." Sheldon shouted back in anger. And he walked away from them.

He had to think about how he was going to continue. Penny, Howard and Raj were all suspicious of him but he couldn't tell them the truth because he didn't trust them. Penny wanted to go with Howard and Raj to get their new baby but he desperately needed to get working on the machine which he hadn't even started building yet so the upcoming weekend would be perfect time to do that. But he also had no funds now and was missing that vital machine he needed thanks to Leonard who was the worst version of himself in this universe.

There were thoughts in his mind of giving up and living it out in this world but Sheldon was a born problem solver so he knew that there had to be a solution. The only ray of hope in this scenario was Amy, and Dave, who seemed willing to help him. He knew if he could continue getting their help that the wormhole generator could be built. If he went home with Penny he wouldn't be able to escape to Amy's house the next day because he knew how persistent she was and she'd force him to go with her, Raj and Howard. He needed to go to Amy's house and hide there.

#

Penny walked into Raj's office at the end of the working day. Howard was also in the office and the two were doing final checks for everything they needed for their soon-to-be child.

"How you two seen Sheldon?" Penny asked them.

"Has he gone missing again?" Raj asked. Yes, it was this common.

"He isn't in his office and I am meant to drive him home." Penny explained.

"I haven't seen him since after we met you in your lab." Raj told her. "He said he was doing an experiment…"

"But given I had just confronted him about 'this Amy' so I think it was a lie." Howard said.

"You asked him?" Penny suddenly had a curious and panicked look on her face. "What did he say?"

"He didn't really say much." Howard told him. "He was stumbling on his words and then he made that faulty excuse to leave."

"Does that mean he is keeping something from me?" Penny looked like she was going to cry.

"Not necessarily." Raj tried to be positive. "He might've just been annoyed that we didn't trust him by following him. Remember Sheldon has always had his odd moments but he always comes through for you." Raj gave a smile.

Penny was still sad but managed to muster a "Thanks Raj." She thought for a second. "But your words of wisdom don't explain where he is."

"Have you called him?" Howard asked.

"Of course I have! I'm not an idiot!" she almost yelled "He didn't answer his phone!"

"We'll just have to look for him." Raj said calmly. "If we can't find him then we'll just have to go home as Howard and I have to go on our road trip tomorrow. You're still coming right?"

"If I can find Sheldon we are coming." She told them. "Let's go look for him! Now!" The three left the office and began to look.

"Where on Earth is he?" Penny thought to herself.

#

Dave and Amy were walking towards their car. The couple only had one car at that moment so Dave drove Amy to and from Caltech on the way to and from his work.

"How was your day at work Ames?" Dave asked.

"It was fine." Amy said "I got a lot of work done today on my monkey study."

"That is great." Dave responded. "Did you talk to Sheldon Cooper again?"

Amy sighed. "Yes." She said. "He spent the morning in my office."

"Cool." Dave said.

"He also said he was coming over tomorrow." Amy told him.

"That sounds exciting!" Dave had a big smile on his face.

The two opened the door to their car but didn't get in because they heard a loud voice getting closer and closer to them shouting "Wait! Wait! Wait!"'

They turned and saw Sheldon hastening towards them. He had his briefcase and laptop bag with him.

"Sheldon?" Amy questioned. He made it up to them and was almost out of breath.

"Finally! I've been pretending to take a walk on the sidewalk for two hours!" he said in-between each breath.

"You wanted to see us?" Dave asked.

"No time for questions!" Sheldon said. He opened the passenger side door and got in the car. "We have to go before anyone sees!"

Amy felt confused but when Dave willingly got in the car and started the engine she felt like she was being peer pressured into doing the same. She'd done a lot stupider things than getting into a car with a possible crazy person because of peer pressure so she reasoned it would probably be fine.

Dave drove out of the parking lot and asked. "Where are you going Sheldon Cooper?" he asked with excitement like it was a privilege to drive Sheldon around.

"Just drive to your house." Sheldon demanded. "We need to work on this machine right away!"

"Why the hurry now?" Amy asked.

"I can't stand this crazy universe anymore!" Sheldon exclaimed "I need my calmness back! Do you know what this parallel universe conundrum has done to my Obsessive Compulsive Tendencies?"

"I don't know to what extent your OCD…" Amy began to say back.

"You two are the only ones I trust to help me." Sheldon interrupted. "And we need to get this done!"

Sheldon felt his phone buzz in his pocket. He knew it would be Penny calling for the seventh time since 5pm so he just ignored it. He didn't want her interrupting. He needed to get back to his Amy and his universe as soon as possible.

 **Thanks for reading :D I hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. There is a lot more suspicion and stress in relation to Sheldon and I think he has just had enough. He needs to go back or he will go crazy. Next time things will really get exciting so I look forward to writing it. Please favourite, follow and/or review if you liked or want to give feedback. Thanks kelli.k , SRAM, Gamenerd 808, essmarkbrOMGtheydid, michiamoverano, Theshamyshamy and nibbler747 for reviewing since I last updated. Thanks again.**

 **Clint Cooper.**


	7. Chapter 7

Sheldon sat once again in Amy and Dave's living room. They were in the kitchen making dinner so Sheldon got all of his notes out and spread it around their coffee table. He began to go through his mind what he wanted to do next to get home. He explained to Amy and Dave in the car to their house about how Penny wanted him to go with Howard and Raj to get their child and he needed to hide from her to get work done on the machine. He also explained his funding and equipment problem about how Leonard took away the money and machine he needed.

"Sheldon?" Amy walked into the living room. "It is time for dinner."

"We don't have the time!" He exclaimed. His stomach rumbled in disagreement.

"In this universe you have to eat food to obtain energy." Amy said.

"Are you mocking me?" Sheldon asked.

Amy couldn't help but giggle at this. "Of course I am."

Sheldon sighed. "Well I sometimes can't tell." He informed her.

"Well we are going to eat. You can join us if you please." Amy said politely. She turned and walked out of the living room.

Sheldon's stomach rumbled once again. He hadn't eaten since the cheeseburger he ate for lunch and he'd lost a lot of energy from all the walking in the parking lot, waiting for Amy and Dave to appear in the parking lot.

"I hate this!" He exclaimed as he walked out of the living room. He washed his hands thoroughly, as he didn't know what cockamamie diseases this universe had, and walked into the dining room. Amy and Dave were sitting and had just began to eat. There was an empty seat with a plate of spaghetti and meatballs in front of it.

"Do you have any hot dogs?" He questioned.

"No we don't eat sausages." Amy said.

"Well that is very disappointing." Sheldon said as he sat down in front of it. He twirled some on his fork and put it in his mouth. "This is delicious! Exactly like the spaghetti 'my Amy' made for me when she was trying to improve my affection for her. Except no hot dogs."

Amy smiled. "Thank you Sheldon."

"Yes, thank you." Dave said. Sheldon forgot completely that Dave helped make it.

"We need to talk about my problem." Sheldon reverted the conversation. "I need to build a machine but I have no money…"

"I can help." Dave interrupted "I have grant money AND my account manager doesn't hate me. I think it is the same for Amy."

"We can't just give our money away Dave." Amy said.

"But this is his life we are talking about" Dave tried to convince her. "Don't you want him to reunite with the love of his life…?"

"Who is me from another universe." Amy argued "I know he might be telling the truth but that doesn't weird you out a little? And we need that money for out lives!"

"Amy. "Sheldon interrupted "I know this feels uncomfortable but if I don't get back I'm going to go mentally insane."

"So why don't we go to the mental hospital and donate all our funds?" Amy asked loudly with sarcasm "You may not care about the people in this universe because once you leave you'll never see us again but we are still people nonetheless and deserve to be treated as such."

Sheldon was taken back by Amy's argument. He gulped nervously and just continued eating. Amy sighed when she saw this.

"I'm sorry Sheldon but we can't give away all our money." Amy said calmly.

"I understand that." Sheldon nodded. "But that doesn't stop the fact that I need money."

"Well maybe you'll just have to work for your money." Amy shrugged.

"But that'll take too long. I want to go back as soon as possible." Sheldon said.

"You can always do some work for us." Amy said. "And I'll give you money as soon as you finish the tasks we give you so time won't be much of an issue. But it won't be all our money"

"That is great idea Ames!" Dave said happily.

"What exactly would I be doing?" Sheldon asked curiously.

"We've always needed some sort of maid." Amy said.

"Well I am expert on cleaning." Sheldon boasted. "I am one of the best in the world at it."

"Great." Amy said.

Sheldon ate some more as he thought. "I still need that machine Leonard took away."

"I think I have one in the laboratory at my work." Dave said. He worked at a different university to Sheldon "We are allowed to go in on weekends so we can always go there tomorrow."

Sheldon nodded. "That seems like a good idea."

Sheldon felt happy that he had gotten Amy and Dave's help. Once everyone finished he grabbed the plates from Amy and Dave and began to run some water to do the dishes.

"I'm going to do some cleaning tonight so we can work on my machine tomorrow." He explained.

#

"Where is Sheldon? Where is Sheldon?" Penny was panicking. Howard, Raj and Penny were still walking around Caltech looking for him.

"He must've left Caltech, Penny." Howard said.

"We can't give up!" Penny exclaimed "We need to look around Pasadena!"

Raj shook his head. "I'm sorry Penny but we need to go home. We are going to get our baby tomorrow so we need to sleep."

"Guys?!" Penny began to cry.

"I'm sorry Penny but Raj is correct." Howard said.

"I can't go with you tomorrow if I can't find Sheldon." Penny told them. "I'm really sorry. I wanted to support you…"

"That is okay Penny." Raj comforted. "Get some sleep and continue looking when your mind is sharp. And maybe Sheldon will return home anyways."

#

Amy woke up on Saturday morning and walked out of her bedroom. She looked around the house and it was the most spotless place she had ever seen. Everything in the house had been rearranged in some sort of logical order and everything had been completely cleaned. Any spot of dust or dirt was gone. She was very impressed that Sheldon did this. She saw Sheldon in the living room sleeping on the left side on the couch. He looked very peaceful. Amy wanted some coffee she so she tried tip-toeing past him so she wouldn't wake him. She was almost successful at this but she accidentally stepped too loudly and he opened his eyes quickly.

"INTRUDER ALERT! INTRUDER ALERT!" Sheldon suddenly said loudly.

"Ssshhh." Amy said. "It is just me. Amy Farrah-Fowler."

He took a deep breath. "It happened to me again."

"What?"

"I've been here for three nights. Each night I wake up thinking this universe is just a dream and then my heart drops when I realise it isn't." he explained.

Amy saw the sadness in his eyes. "I know this is hard but we'll get through this. I was only hard on you yesterday because I care too much about Dave and I's future to give away our money. But I have to say you are getting a large amount of pay for the work you've done on this house."

"I did it while you were sleeping." Sheldon said. "The only room I haven't done is your bedroom but I didn't want to wake you."

Amy smiled. "Don't worry about the bedroom. This is good enough. But you'll still have to do the dishes."

"Since I am eating of your plates I assure you that is no hindrance for me." Sheldon told her.

The two were silent for a few seconds.

"I didn't realise Leonard was such a mean person." Amy began. "He was always so nice to me. I even considered asking him on a date before I met Dave. He always gives me an appropriate amount of grant money."

Sheldon was startled that Amy once wanted to ask Leonard on a date. He shook his head in disbelief but decided to ignore this. "In my universe Leonard and I are best friends. We had our differences but we always remained friends. I guess the only thing that could ever disallow that was me being with Penny." Sheldon said. He said looked down at the ground "I feel sorry for her."

"Penny? Why?" Amy asked.

"I've been thinking about what you said yesterday at the dinner table about how I should be treating people in this universe. I haven't cared about the feelings of 'this universe's Penny' at all and she must be feeling lonely or confused. But I just can't be romantic with her. Ever!" he said.

"Once you return hopefully things will get back to normal." Amy said. "Assuming 'this universe's Sheldon' somehow returns."

Amy couldn't help but yawn. She realised that she still needed to make some coffee. "I'm going to make some coffee." She said.

"Stop!" Sheldon said. "I believe it is my job to do that for you now." He stood up and the two walked into the kitchen. "I'll also make some breakfast. Is French toast okay?"

"I love French toast." Amy smiled.

Sheldon got some bread out of the fridge and began to boil some water for the coffee. He also kept talking to Amy. The fact she was married kept slipping his mind.

#

"I'm sorry to call this early in the morning Althea." Penny said politely over the phone to a friend she had who worked at Caltech administration. "But the details you have given me are very useful."

"You aren't going to use these for bad purposes?" Sheryl questioned "I'm technically not meant to give out addresses and phone numbers but I've known you for some time so I trust you."

"No of course not!" She said. "It is about Sheldon…"

"What do you mean?" Althea asked.

"It is just Sheldon didn't come home last night and I've been told that he has been spending time with Amy Farrah Fowler." She explained.

"Which is why you want Amy Farrah Fowler's contact information." Althea understood.

"I have to go Althea. Thank you so much." Penny thanked. They said goodbye to each other and hung up. Penny looked up Amy's address on Google Maps and saw that it was fairly close to her. She grabbed her keys and purse and left the apartment.

#

"So you bought me a Tiara?" Amy laughed. The two had eaten their French toast and were sitting at the table discussing what life was like in both universes.

"I bought 'my Amy' a tiara so she would forgive me and it worked! She was ecstatic." Sheldon explained. Amy continued to laugh

"You two are up early." Dave walked in to see the two talking. Sheldon felt awkward at this and Amy immediately stopped laughing and looked down.

"I made French toast." Sheldon told him. "There is some on the counter."

"Thanks." Dave said. "I like what you've done with the house."

It felt good for Sheldon to get a compliment. "Well it was like a challenge since I haven't cleaned an entire house since my mother's house in Texas."

The three of them heard the doorbell rang. Once it finished ringing for the first time it rung again and again like the person was in a hurry.

"Sheldon." Amy said. "Will you please answer the door?" She requested given Sheldon was now working for her.

Sheldon nodded. "Yes Amy." He walked to the front door and opened it. His eyes opened wide with shock as he saw a familiar blonde-haired woman in front of him with an angry expression on her face.

"WHAT THE F…HELL?" she shouted very loudly.

Sheldon gulped. She was about to go Nebraska on his B.

 **Thanks for reading. It has been more than a week since I updated because I have been really busy at college. It was nice and exciting to write a chapter between assignments. Since I am still busy I don't know how long it will be until my next update. Please favourite, follow or review if you have any feedback. Thankyou** **shamour, karyshamy, Kinja145, michiamoverano, Theshamyshamy, Warriorcreed, JessicaWarren, SRAM, glenncocodotcom, kelli.k and nibbler747 for reviewing since I last updated. Thanks again.**

 **Clint Cooper**


	8. Chapter 8

Sheldon walked to the front door and opened it. His eyes opened wide with shock as he saw a familiar blonde-haired woman in front of him with an angry expression on her face.

"WHAT THE F…HELL?" she shouted very loudly.

Sheldon gulped. He had no Idea what to say. He knew he'd have to explain why he was there and that Penny would be angry at whatever reason he gave so he stayed silent.

"SHELDON!" She screeched "WHY ARE YOU AT SOME OTHER WOMAN'S HOUSE?"

Throughout their entire friendship back in his universe he had never seen her get this angry. He had seen her shout at him for putting her clothes on telephone wires and shout at Leonard for not trusting her enough to have her friend Justin stay at her apartment but this was something different. She wasn't just annoyed or angry, she felt betrayed by someone she trusted. Sheldon felt bad for her, which was an odd emotion for him. It was all Amy's fault for making him realise that people in this universe had lives that he needed respect. This unfamiliar form of anger had Sheldon not knowing what to say.

"Penny…"he stuttered as he thought.

"ARE YOU CHEATING ON ME?" She shouted.

Sheldon sighed. "I never had sex with anyone else." This was very true.

"THEN WHY ARE YOU WHORING IT UP AT SOME OTHER PERSON'S HOUSE?" She questioned "WE COULD BE SUPPORTING HOWARD AND RAJ RIGHT NOW WITH THEIR CHILD BUT INSTEAD WE'RE HERE BECAUSE YOU WERE SELFISH…!"

"I don't understand what you mean by 'whoring it up'?" Sheldon interrupted with confusion.

"AMY FARRAH FOWLER!" She said like it'd answer Sheldon's question.

"I know you got Howard and Raj to spy on me but…"

"BUT WHAT?" She interrupted" BUT THEY MISUNDERSTOOD! I'VE HEARD STUFF LIKE THIS BEFORE FROM OTHER GUYS, SHELDON! I THOUGHT YOU'D BE DIFFERENT!"

"What is it?" The two heard Amy's voice walking into the room. She must've heard Penny shout her name and that got her attention. Amy saw Penny's red face and angry glare and felt awkward. "This must be Penny." She said as if everything was normal. "Sheldon has told me all about you." She gave Penny a pleasant smile. This didn't help.

"AND YOU STILL HAD RELATIONS WITH HIM!"

"Amy and I are not related." Sheldon added, not realising she meant sex. Penny gave him a glare. She raised her hand up as if she were about to slap him.

"Wait!" Amy signalled her attention, to stop her. "I don't know what you think we did but I assure you Sheldon and I never had sex. We never even kissed or did anything romantic. We've just talked about work and our lives."

Penny looked confused but she put her arm back down. "Then WHY is he here in the morning?" She asked.

"We are working together. He is receiving me and my husband's help on his paper." Amy explained to Penny.

"I don't believe you." She shook her head. "Work is for the office, not your house."

"When you two had the disagreement over going with your friends he didn't want to argue with you so he asked if he could come over." Amy lied "We like Sheldon so we allowed him to do so." Sheldon nodded in agreement but didn't say anything.

Penny looked suspicious. "This seems like some rehearsed story for when someone did find out. If it is true then where is thus 'husband' of yours? Is he conveniently out getting coffee?" Penny expected the two to have panicked glances.

Instead Amy smiled and shook her head. "Dave!" She shouted "Can you come here please?"

A few seconds later Dave walked out of the dining room. He was carrying a plate and was eating some French toast.

"You'll get crumbs on the carpet!" Sheldon complained "I vacuumed here last night!"

For the first time Penny actually looked at the inside of the house. She noticed it was very clean, and knew only Sheldon could get it like this. "Did Sheldon clean? " she asked.

"Instead of having wild coitus I cleaned their house." Sheldon said.

"He wanted to thank us for letting him stay." Amy added with a lie.

Penny had calmed down from her earlier anger. She still didn't trust them but logically, everything seemed to make sense. She even knew of Dave as a physicist from a different university so it would make sense for him to help Sheldon on his paper, assuming Sheldon was desperate for help which he would have to be to ask.

"Fine!" Penny said "I believe you! Now let's go home. We can't go with Howard and Raj anymore but we can still enjoy a weekend together."

"We are going to Dave's university for my paper." Sheldon said.

"WHAT?" She questioned "You are always working!"

"You could always come with us." Dave suggested. "That way you won't be at home wondering about Sheldon Cooper all day."

Sheldon did not want this at all. Penny being near the Wormhole generator could cause her to make one and come to his universe and screw things up.

"I think that sounds very reasonable." Penny said. "What do you think Sheldon?"

Sheldon wanted to say no. But Penny looked at him with such hope. He needed to keep her anger at bay to keep his sanity. If he worried about Penny's emotional problems he wouldn't be able to concentrate on his building his machine. "Fine!" He agreed.

Penny gave him a big hug and Sheldon instantly felt uncomfortable. He pulled away as quickly as he could.

#

Amy and Dave sat in the front two seats of their car as they drove to Dave's university. This forced Sheldon and Penny to sit in the back seats. Penny suddenly leant over to him and he instinctively pulled away.

"Don't be embarrassed because someone else is in the car." Penny pouted her lips at him. Sheldon shuddered.

"Penny, I do not like PDA."Sheldon said.

"Well today is Saturday and you know what that means?" She winked.

Sheldon did know. On his first day in this universe Raj mentioned that Saturday night was sex night. At that time he thought nothing of it because he didn't know he was in a different universe but his eidetic memory made him think of it now.

"Well we can't do that here." Sheldon said.

"Well we haven't done it since last week and I've been really feeling stress this week. We don't have to go all the way!"

"Penny! Please act appropriately!" He demanded forcefully. Penny leant back into her seat.

"Okay Sheldon, sorry." She apologised but in a sarcastic way "I was just trying to add some spark back into our relationship."

Sheldon didn't know much about relationship sparks but he knew Penny might've acting extra sexual because of her recent trust problems with him and Amy.

"Are you two okay back there?" they heard Amy ask. She must've heard some of the talking.

"We're fine!" They both answered. Sheldon felt embarrassed that Amy saw Penny trying to get with him in her car. He looked down. Penny looked over at him and Sheldon heard her sigh loudly.

#

Sheldon walked into Dave's laboratory holding his laptop, briefcase and a small toolbox.

"This isn't as good as Caltech." Sheldon shook his head "But it'll have to do."

Amy, Dave and Penny all walked in after him carrying a large amount of heavy equipment that Sheldon had picked up on the drive, from the orders he made the previous day.

They all put it down on an available bench as soon as possible.

"Thanks for helping with carrying." Amy said to Sheldon sarcastically.

Sheldon didn't realise this was sarcasm and gave a smile "You're welcome." He said.

"Why do you need all this stuff?" Penny asked.

"I am disappointed Penny that you haven't insinuated anything, as you're a physicist." Sheldon said. "Now let's ignore Penny's confusion and get to work."

Amy walked up to Sheldon and gave him some money. "This is for cleaning the house spectacularly." She said.

"We do need some more materials." He said "But if we all leave to go shopping then no one will be actually working on the machine."

"What is the discussion?" Penny asked.

"We need some more materials." Sheldon explained. "You're good at shopping right?"

"I am not leaving you here Sheldon!" She said.

"I'll go with you." Amy said "that way you'll know Sheldon and I aren't having a private sex session." She said this in a mocking tone.

"Yes and Dave and I can do some physics work." Sheldon said.

"I can't believe I'll be doing physics with the great Sheldon Cooper!" He said with excitement.

"Why is he so happy?" Penny queried.

"I'll explain during our shop." Amy said "it might take some time."

Penny glanced suspiciously at Sheldon but turned and left the room with Amy.

#

Both Dave and Sheldon were in the lab, wearing safety glasses and a laboratory apron. Sheldon turned on his power supply which was connected to a circuit board he just soldered components onto. A light shone on the circuit board to indicate it was working.

"Yay!" Dave exclaimed happily.

Sheldon breathed in. "Don't get too excited. We still have many more circuits to build and that is only one part of the machine."

"Progress is progress!" Dave was still happy.

Sheldon felt like rolling his eyes over this obvious statement and insulting him. "Well let's move onto the next one." He said instead. Sheldon turned on the soldering iron and began to solder a resistor on the next circuit board. Sheldon's soldering was very precise like he was an actual engineer or experimental physicist but in reality he was just remembering what he was forced to learn in college.

Dave and Sheldon worked on separate circuit boards to speed up the process and were halfway through their boards when Amy and Penny walked into the room, both of which were carrying a box. They quickly put the boxes down on the bench.

"Nice circuit Sheldon." Penny saw the circuit on the bench.

Sheldon didn't look up from his soldering but he said "Don't touch it Penny! We have already gotten it working and I don't need your Nebraskan man hands breaking it."

Penny gave a glare "I didn't realise you hated my hands."

"I never said anything of the sort." Sheldon clarified. "Your hands are like a man's. No insult but instead the truth."

"Well… Well…" Penny tried to think of a comeback. "What exactly are we building?" She changed the topic.

"I am not telling you Penny." Sheldon shook his head. He didn't trust a smarter Penny.

"If I am here I have to know what is going on." Penny demanded.

Sheldon turned off the soldering iron and turned to Penny. "The only reason you are here is because of your suspicious mind wanting to know where I am at every second. That is all you will know in relation to this project."

"But Sheldon, you know you can trust me…" She tried to justify.

"Penny, if you are going to be irritating then maybe you should just leave!" Sheldon didn't think through the implications of this statement. He was annoyed she was interrupting his work and his temper accidentally went off. He saw Amy gasp at this.

Penny gave another glare. "I NEED TO KNOW I CAN TRUST YOU! I AM NOT LEAVING!"

"Well then no more questions." Sheldon said.

"But to trust you, I should know what is going on…"

"Penny please stop." Sheldon tried to say this as calmly as possible to take away any angry undertones.

"NO!" Penny demanded.

Sheldon sighed. "Then please leave this laboratory." He once again said calmly.

"SHELDON! NO!" Penny shouted.

"Then please be quiet." Sheldon said. To stop this mundane chit chat he turned back around and turned the soldering iron on.

Penny was not pleased with this sudden ignoring. She kept trying to talk to him but he was already 'in the zone', concentrating on the soldering.

"Don't push it Penny." Amy advised. "Sheldon just needs to work."

"And what would you know about Sheldon?" she asked with anger.

"We've been working together. We already explained this to you." Amy said like it was obvious. During the shopping with Penny the two had made no connection from sitting in the car awkwardly as they drove places. How could the two ever be friends like Sheldon told her they were in his universe?

"Oh, you think I am stupid." Penny said. "Well I am a physicist. I know things. I know that the materials we picked up today would be used for building some sort of high powered prototype."

"Good for you. Do you want a cookie?" Amy asked sarcastically.

Penny paused for a second to think and then stamped her foot on the ground angrily. "You know what!? I am leaving! I don't need to be mocked and ignored!" Penny turned around and walked out of the room whilst slamming the door. Sheldon was in the zone so he didn't notice any of this.

 **Penny is angry! Has she had enough of this half-hearted Sheldon? Or has she got a plan up her sleeve for sex night? And what will happen with Sheldon and Amy? Thank you all for reading and it was enjoyable writing this during my busy college schedule, hence the few weeks since the last upload. I actually wrote some of this during an electrical engineering lecture which is where all the soldering and circuits come from. If you want to leave feedback please favourite, follow or review. Thank you Gamenerd 808, glenncocodotcom, michiamoverano, shamour, SRAM, elli.k, Theshamyshamy, jessmarkbrOMGtheydid, SirCJ and JessicaWarren for reviewing since last chapter. Thanks again.**

 **Clint Cooper**


	9. Chapter 9

When Sheldon finished soldering another circuit he heard his stomach rumble. He hadn't eaten since the delicious French toast he had made for breakfast. He tested the circuit and it worked as expected so he put it with the other circuits he'd finished making. He was suddenly out of the 'zone' he put himself in two hours earlier and looked to his side. He saw both Dave and Amy soldering and several finished circuit boards next to them.

"Where is Penny?" Sheldon asked. He remembered him zoning her out earlier to work on his soldering and her being there.

"She stormed out angrily an hour ago." Dave explained.

"Why?" Sheldon queried.

"I may have implied she wasn't smart. And you ignored her." Amy clarified. Sheldon knew this was bad for Penny's wellbeing and that he might've probably screwed up their relationship in this universe.

He heard his stomach rumble again and desperately wanted to eat. He stood up and washed his hands from the solder.

"I need lunch or I am going to faint." Sheldon said.

Amy turned off the soldering iron and Sheldon saw she was halfway finished with her current circuit. "Me too." She agreed. She also washed her hands.

"I'm nearly done and I'd like to finish before lunch." Dave told them.

"We can buy you something." Amy said "I know what you like."

"Thanks Ames." Dave said with a smile.

Amy and Sheldon left the room and walked down the hallways, towards the cafeteria.

"What are you going to do about Penny?" Amy asked to begin a conversation.

"I have no choice but to do nothing." Sheldon said "I need to concentrate on this machine."

"Well too bad. This universe's Sheldon will be angry with you for ruining things, wherever he is" Amy said.

"Maybe he is dead." Sheldon hypothesised "Leonard murdered him and I came before anyone could notice."

"You're joking right?" Amy asked.

"Of course. Bazinga!"

"What is Bazinga?" She asked.

"I say it when I joke, as I don't joke often." He explained.

"Odd phrase. Where does it come from?" Amy asked.

"It is a mispronunciation of a word my father used to say." Sheldon explained "The word is kind of inappropriate so I changed it. I feel uncomfortable saying the original word."

"That's okay. I don't need to hear it." Amy said whilst giggling. "Whether or not you are lying about this, your stories are fascinating. Have you ever considered writing something?"

"I've written many papers on my physics. I've written several for The New England Journal of High Energy Physics, which I saw in your house whilst cleaning." Sheldon said.

"I mean story wise. I know you like science fiction and superhero movies and comics." Amy remembered.

"I've tried writing fiction before but I've never actually published any of it." Sheldon informed.

"You should." Amy said "You're really good at storytelling."

The two walked into the cafeteria. It wasn't busy, given it was the weekend, but there was still one person working there. Sheldon ordered a cheeseburger whilst Amy ordered some lasagne for her and Dave. After receiving their meals the two began to walk back to the lab.

"I miss my old cheeseburgers." Sheldon said. "Amy and I used to enjoy them together."

"Well you have no choice but to eat these ones." Amy said.

"I wonder what my Amy is doing now." Sheldon thought "It is Saturday so she is probably playing her harp or watching Little House on the Prarie as I tell her my problems."

"But you aren't there." Amy said.

Sheldon sighed. "I know." Sheldon felt some sadness "She is probably as sad as I am." Sheldon couldn't help it but a tear went down his face.

"Are you okay?" Amy asked with concern.

"Oh great! I'm leaking like a lower life form." Sheldon quickly wiped the tear from his face.

"Anyone would be emotionally wrecked after going through what you have." Amy consoled.

"I know you don't really believe my story. You think I'm a liar who is taking advantage of you and Dave." Another tear fell down his face. Sheldon quickly wiped the tear again. He turned away from Amy in embarrassment.

"I believe you Sheldon." Amy said. "I didn't at the beginning but … I do."

"Then why do you pause or say 'I don't know if I trust you'?" Sheldon asked.

"That is just my logic talking." Amy said "I do believe you now."

"How do I know you're not saying that to make me feel better? Leonard and Penny used to do that all the time."

"I don't know." Amy shrugged. "You'll just have to trust me. Do you trust me?"

"Yes I do." Sheldon nodded.

Amy smiled. "Then you'll believe that I do believe you." Sheldon nodded at this. He did feel better. He was still sad that he was in this universe but having Amy there to comfort him was helpful. The two hadn't noticed but during this exchange the two seemed to get closer together. When they noticed this they stood away from each other awkwardly.

"Well…" Amy said.

"Yes…"

"Let's get to the lab. We need our food to be warm whilst eating it." Amy nodded.

#

"I love the food at this university." Dave said as he finished his lasagne.

"I can see why this university doesn't have a good reputation." Sheldon complained. "The 'meat to bun to condiment' ratio of this cheeseburger is atrocious. Do they want me to vomit?"

"A little harsh Sheldon." Amy notified.

"Why? The cooks aren't in this room." Sheldon said.

The three were in the lab at a desk away from the equipment and possible toxic substances. When Sheldon reluctantly finished his burger he stood up and looked at all the circuits that the three had soldered. Amy had made four, Dave had made six and Sheldon had made seven so that meant they had 17. They needed 73 different circuit boards made. This was going to take all day and night.

At that moment Sheldon's phone buzzed which he thought was odd. He opened it and saw it was Penny calling him. He knew he did not want to talk to her. But Amy was right about not ruining Penny's life so he decided it was better to handle it.

"Hello." Sheldon answered.

"Hello, Sheldon." He heard the familiar voice. "How are you?"

"Stressed about work." Sheldon answered "I don't see why it'd matter though. You're just asking as a social nicety."

"Well I do care about how you feel and how I have made you feel." Penny said. "I'd like to apologise for my behaviour this morning."

"Really?" Sheldon asked. He expected her to be stubborn about this.

"Yes." She said "I was a jealous freak and I wasn't thinking logically. I shouldn't have shouted at you or stormed out. I should have left you peacefully to work."

Sheldon did not know why Penny suddenly was being nice. His brain couldn't think of why she'd forgive him so easily. "Okay…"

"I know you're really busy at work and I don't mean to interrupt." Penny said. "But can we please spend time together. Even if it is just one hour."

Sheldon turned to Amy and Dave who were talking to each other. He didn't want to make them work whilst he went out with a girl. But Penny seemed so desperate.

Sheldon took a deep breath. "Okay Penny. One hour, and over dinner so it doesn't affect my work much."

"Thank you Sheldon. I love you." Penny said.

"Okay." Sheldon replied. There was a pause like she expected him to say something. Sheldon just couldn't say those three words to her.

"Well…" Penny said. "I'll come by the lab. When do you want me to be there?'

"6pm." Sheldon. "No earlier and no later, please, don't be tardy or needy."

"Okay Sheldon." Penny said. "I know how much scheduling means to you."

"Fine." Sheldon said.

"Okay I have some things to do so I should go." Penny said. "Goodbye sweety."

"Yes." Sheldon said. Penny waited for a few seconds but then hung up.

"Was that Penny?" Amy asked. She'd put on her apron and safety glasses on again.

Sheldon sighed. "Yes it was."

"Well, what did she say?" She asked.

"She wants to spend time with me. I allowed an hour at 6." Sheldon told her. Amy looked down at the ground disappointingly.

"Don't worry, Sheldon Cooper." Dave said "I'm sure you'll make it through. You are the great Sheldon Cooper after all."

"Don't creep him out Dave." Amy warned.

"Oh don't worry, I like praise." Sheldon boasted. "I am great." Amy couldn't help but laugh at his egotism.

Dave and Sheldon put on their aprons and safety glasses and the three began to solder their circuits. Sheldon went back into the 'zone'.

#

Sheldon went out the 'zone' when he heard a large beeping sound. He saw the circuits he'd built in front of him and the current one which he had just tested and found that it worked. He washed his hands from the solder and picked up his phone which was making the beeping sound as an alarm. He saw it was 5:40pm and he'd allowed twenty minutes to get ready for Penny.

"How many circuits have we made?" Sheldon asked.

"We really worked hard and quicker than this morning so I expect a substantial amount." Amy said. She counted the circuits.

"Wow, 51!" she said happily. "We only have 22 left to make! You really work efficiently when you zone out!"

"When your roommate has coitus really loudly you learn to zone things out." Sheldon explained. He put away his apron and safety glasses. He washed his hands an extra time and did some breathing exercises to help with his nervousness over going out with Penny. He detested doing this and he thought of cancelling. But he knew Amy expected him to keep this world intact.

Amy saw him do these breathing exercises. She put a comforting arm around him and to his surprise Sheldon didn't push away.

"It'll be okay, Sheldon." Amy comforted. "Just imagine her as a Star Trek character and it'll be fine." She smiled at him. It was interesting how much Amy remembered from all he told her about him and his universe that morning.

At 6:01 there was a knock on the laboratory door. To not arouse suspicion Amy and Dave were soldering, to look like they were working and not having an orgy. Sheldon took a deep breath and opened the door. He saw Penny in a curvy black dress.

"Hello Sheldon." She said seductively. Sheldon couldn't help but wince.

"You are one minute late." Sheldon said. Penny shrugged.

"Sorry, sweety." She said. Sheldon walked out the room and shut the door. He tried to imagine her as Captain Kirk.

"Where are we going for dinner?" Sheldon asked.

"There is a hotel across the street with a bar." Penny said.

"I shouldn't be surprised Captain, I mean Penny, that you want an alcoholic beverage." Sheldon said. Sheldon noticed Penny walk very seductively as they crossed the street and walked to the bar. The two sat down at a table. Sheldon ordered a cheeseburger in hopes of getting the bad taste of the one from lunch out of his mouth and a lemonade whilst Penny ordered a salad with an alcoholic beverage Sheldon had never heard of.

"Is there any reason you wanted to see me Captain?" Sheldon questioned.

"Oh, we're roleplaying." Penny said with a wink. "Well I wanted to see you about a problem I've been having. I think you could help."

"What is that problem?" Sheldon asked "Is it about my distance recently."

"No, it is about me feeling lonely and needing someone in this tough war." Penny hinted at coitus ad the roleplaying.

Sheldon sighed. "We are not doing this Penny." He shook his head. "I just want a nice dinner with my …" Sheldon gulped "… relationship person."

Penny looked down sadly. "I'm sorry Sheldon. I mustn't be putting enough effort into looking sexy lately but I've been trying. I bought this dress this afternoon and some special underwear."

"You mean Thermal? Because it is cold right now?" Sheldon asked.

Penny didn't know if Sheldon was joking. "… Think it through Sheldon…"

"Did you buy me some special superhero ones…"

Penny shook her head. "I don't know what has gotten into you lately." She said. "It is like any sex drive you had is gone."

"That is true. I no longer have a sex drive." Sheldon said.

"What?"

"I don't feel sexual attraction anymore…" Sheldon began making a story up, like Amy said he was good at. "It is an issue I've been dealing with and I want you to know that you pushing yourself on me just makes it worse."

"Oh sweety." Penny looked sad for Sheldon and put her hand on his. It took all his might to keep it there. "I'm sorry. I didn't know. You should have told me."

"I didn't because I was embarrassed by it." Sheldon said. "I assume that is something people would be embarrassed about."

"People are embarrassed by anything, Sheldon." She said. "And thank you for telling me this Sheldon. If I'd known I wouldn't have been such a pain this morning."

The waiter came to their table and put down their meals and drinks and then left. Sheldon began to eat in a hurry.

"Well now I understand what you've been going through we have to sort out what we are going to be doing about it." Penny said. Sheldon swallowed.

"Aren't we just not going to have physical contact for some time?" Sheldon said.

"I really want to help you get your sexual attraction back, in any way possible." Penny said.

Sheldon knew the obvious solution. "Then don't push me. Let me get through this at my own pace. When I'm ready I'll tell you." This reminded Sheldon of his relationship with Amy.

"That might be forever, Sheldon…"

"I'm sorry, Penny, but it is all I have." He said. Penny sighed. She clearly wanted to get laid.

The two ate their meal in almost silence. Penny believed his story about his sex drive vanishing but it didn't mean she didn't want some physical contact.

"I'm going to the bathroom." She stood up. "Please wait for me."

Sheldon shrugged as he continued to eat. "Of course."

After five minutes, Penny didn't return. This wasn't odd to Sheldon given how females often spent a long time in the toilet. She was however using a lot of their hour. His phone buzzed and he saw it was a text message from Penny.

SHELDON! HELP! – Penny.

What is wrong? – Sheldon.

I NEED SOME HELP! I AM IN ROOM 402 AND NEED HELP! – Penny.

What kind of help? – Sheldon

COME QUICKLY! –Penny.

Okay, just relax and sing some Taylor Swift until I get there – Sheldon.

Sheldon didn't know if Taylor Swift was famous in this universe or if Penny was in a situation where she could sing Taylor Swift but Sheldon took another bite of his burger and quickly took the elevator to the fourth floor. He saw the second room and that the door was open. He walked in and saw no one.

"Hello?" he questioned.

"I am in here! Quickly!" he heard Penny say loudly from another room. He opened the door and saw the worst thing he could've imagined. Penny was spread out on a bed in some revealing underwear. What Penny said before finally made sense.

"Please I need help!" she said with a wink. Sheldon was absolutely disgusted. He rushed out of the bedroom and found this room's bathroom. Immediately he threw up in the toilet. He cringed at the germy reaction he just had and the image he just saw. He felt his breathing increasing and he felt like he was going to have a panic attack.

"Is everything okay?" he heard Penny say from the bedroom.

"An hour is up. I am going back to the lab." Sheldon began to breathe in and out quickly as walked out of the room. What had just happened was the worst thing imaginable. He felt like he just violated this universe's Leonard, Penny and Amy by seeing that and he knew he caused some strife with this universe's Penny. He quickly walked out of the hotel and rushed to Dave's university. His fast paced breathing didn't stop and he felt like he needed to work to get his mind of what he just saw. He also wanted Amy to comfort him and tell him everything little thing was going to be alright.

 **Thank you for reading. I hope the Penny being sexy thing didn't deter you. Sheldon clearly is disgusted at this. And sorry for any errors or mistakes as I wrote all of this on my train rides to and from college, so if you see a weirdo on a train writing fanfiction it might be me. If you want to leave feedback please favourite, follow or review. Thanks shamour, michiamoverano, giovanarod, SRAM, kelli.k, glenncocodotcom, jessmarkbrOMGtheydid, Gamenerd 808 and a guest For reviewing since I last posted. Thanks again.**

 **Clint Cooper**


	10. Chapter 10

"How many circuits have we made since Sheldon left?" Amy asked Dave when she finished one of her circuits.

"You've made two, I've made three so that is five." Dave explained "That means we only have 17 more left to make." After Sheldon left with Penny the two had a very quick dinner break and continued to work hard like Sheldon was still there.

"And then there is still so much more of the machine to build." Amy sighed. She looked over to the box of equipment she bought earlier with Penny and it had since been opened with some circuit elements used. However it was still mostly full with unused equipment.

Suddenly the door to the lab swung open and the two saw Sheldon in front of them. He was out of breath and red in the face. He looked like he'd witnessed a traumatic event.

"Sheldon!" Amy exclaimed "You look flustered! Are you okay?"

Sheldon took some deep breaths. "Clearly ….. I am not …. Okay."

"What happened?" Dave asked.

"Penny happened…." He said.

"We know that you went to dinner with her." Amy said. "But most dinners don't end with a person looking like you do now."

"Penny tried to sex with me." Sheldon shuddered thinking about it. "She lay on a bed naked and … and… I think I need to throw up again."

"You threw up?" Amy questioned.

"That is what you got from that?" Sheldon asked with stern confusion.

"Oh, Sheldon." Amy figured this was a 'yes' and looked at him concern. Without warning Amy walked up to Sheldon and gave him a comforting hug. Sheldon didn't realise it at first but he felt comfortable with the hug and he didn't pull away. When he realised how calm he looked with what was happening, in front of Dave, he quickly pulled away.

"Well that is enough of this Penny nonsense." Sheldon shuddered once again. "I don't have the emotional depth to deal with both her and getting home. I am so sorry Amy. I wanted to try and keep everything in this universe intact and care about the people in this universe but … but…"

"Sheldon, it is fine." Amy reassured "I am just glad that you tried." Amy gave a smile.

"Okay." Sheldon said. "I am going to do some relaxation exercises and then get back to work. Let's get all these circuits built tonight."

#

It was midnight when the three returned to Amy's house. They'd finished soldering and testing the 73 circuit boards. Sheldon was very tired from the work and cleaning the night before.

"I am still very impressed with the cleaning." Amy said when she entered her house and saw the spotless living room.

"Yes … Okay…" Sheldon was too tired to think.

"Sleep in the guest bedroom tonight Sheldon and not the couch." Amy offered with concern for him.

"Okay … Bazingas … Mud … Yes …" Sheldon said tiredly as he walked towards the bedroom.

"And don't forget to brush your teeth!" Amy reminded.

"Never … Love …" Sheldon walked away from the two of them.

"Did he just call you 'love'?" Dave asked.

Amy shrugged. "Let's give him a break. He has been through a lot today."

"I am happy you two are getting along." Dave said "After the first day when you thought he was a creep I didn't know if you could."

"I just pre-judged him based off of what Leonard Hofstadter told me." Amy explained "Now let's go to sleep as well. We still have a lot of work to do tomorrow."

#

Penny put her key in the apartment door's lock and opened the door. She couldn't stay in the hotel room after Sheldon's bad reaction tarnished it. And now the underwear she bought for him was for waste.

Her phone buzzed. She looked at it and expected an apology from Sheldon. Instead it was just Raj texting her that they had arrived at their destination and would be getting their child the next day. Her phone began to ring but it was an unknown number. She thought it could be Sheldon calling from Amy's number and answered.

"Hello?" Penny asked.

"Hello Penny!" a familiar voice greeted. Penny rolled her eyes.

"Leonard! What the hell do you want? And I thought I blocked you!"

"I am using someone else's phone." He explained "and I called to tell you that I am not actually allowed to take away your machine. I need to get written permission from the head of sciences to deal with expensive equipment."

"You knew that didn't you? You just took away my machine to annoy me and pretended you forgot about the rules!" Penny snarled.

"It is true. You are beautiful AND smart." Leonard flirted. Penny sighed.

"Well I've had a hell of a night and don't need your negative energy as well. I expect my machine to be returned by Monday or I will make a formal complaint! Now goodb …"

"There is trouble in asexual paradise I see." Leonard interrupted before she could hang up "Did Sheldon forget how a penis works?"

Penny knew he was mocking but it was saddening how close this was to her actual situation.

"If you ever need a real man who knows how sex works just call me for some fun." Leonard boasted

Penny was annoyed with Sheldon but she loved him so she was not going to ever have sex with Leonard. But she suddenly had an idea. She thought that if Sheldon found out she was out with his enemy then surely he would pay attention to her.

"Let's go out to breakfast tomorrow." Penny said before she could change her mind.

"Really?" Leonard asked with surprise.

"Yes. Tomorrow. Cheesecake Factory." She told him.

"I am definitely free." Leonard seemed excited. He made then odd kissing sounds.

"Whatever Leonard." Penny said and she hung up the phone. She hoped this plan would work.

 **Only a short chapter because I am very busy at college and I thought that was good place to end the chapter but I hope you liked it nonetheless. If you wish to leave feedback please favourite, follow or review. Thank you everyone who reviewed since last update and I really appreciate it. Thank you so much again.**

 **Clint Cooper.**


	11. Chapter 11

Sheldon was surrounded by dark smoke and began to cough. He opened his eyes to see what was causing the smoke and saw that his parallel universe generator on fire from a malfunction. His sight was short-lived as the smoke stung his eyes and forced him to close them. He walked in the opposite direction to try and get away from the smoke. He found a door and opened it quickly. He felt the cool air, took a deep breath and opened his eyes again. He recognised the other side of the door as the hallway outside Dave's office at Dave's university. Amy and Dave were running towards the room with a fire extinguisher.

"What happened in Dave's office?" Sheldon asked with a confused tone.

"I thought you had eidetic memory." Amy pointed out with an annoyed tone.

"I do." Sheldon said. "But I don't remember. I don't even remember getting the machine finished or testing it."

"Well the two of us helped and managed to construct it." Dave explained. "You just tried to go back to your universe and the machine malfunctioned. It took a lot of effort but we managed to pull you out of it before it exploded."

"Thank you." Sheldon said. "But what are we going to do now?"

"Not my problem." Amy said with attitude.

"What do you mean?" Sheldon asked.

"I help you and this thing nearly kills us." Amy explained. "I don't care anymore."

"But Amy…" Sheldon said with a lump in his throat. Suddenly a tear fell down his face. He wiped it with his shirt sleeve before Amy could see.

Amy gave devilish smile. "Well that is the end of that waste of time." She said. "I care for Dave. Dave is who I ACTUALLY love." Suddenly she turned to Dave and began to kiss him passionately.

Sheldon shuddered, turned and begun to walk quickly down the hallway away from this. He turned a corner and saw a familiar and horrifying image. Penny was on a bed in the middle of the hallway in fancy underwear.

"Sweetie." She said seductively with a wink. "Have coitus with me." She began to unclip the clip to take her bra off but Sheldon turned around so he couldn't see. As he turned around he saw Amy with a baseball bat.

"Where have you been? I am really angry at you!" she shouted. "You've missed several date nights and don't think travelling to a parallel universe is a proper excuse to get out of them!" She suddenly hit him over the head with the baseball bat at fall force and Sheldon felt himself falling to the ground.

#

When Sheldon woke up his eyes opened very quickly. He looked at his surroundings and saw he was still sleeping in Amy's house. He remembered finishing soldering all the necessary circuit boards and going to sleep very late. He turned over and saw on a clock that it was 7am. He got out of bed immediately because he knew he'd have to continue building the machine as soon as possible.

A comforting smell came to his nostrils which jogged his mind and made him feel calm and loved. Before meeting Amy, the only way, he could ever feel like this was when he smelt something similar to what his mother made, like when someone made Spaghetti with Mama Italia marinara spaghetti sauce.

He knew what the smell was. It was Amy's French toast and it smelt exactly like it did when she made it in his universe. He walked out of his room and towards the kitchen. He walked in and saw Amy making French toast and Dave eating some at a table.

"You're making breakfast." Sheldon said.

"I know." Amy said. "Do you want some?"

"Of course but I thought I was meant to be your servant for the foreseeable future." He reminded her.

"I forgot." Amy said. "But if it'll make you happy, you can do the dishes."

"That would make me very happy." Sheldon smiled. Amy grabbed a plate and put two pieces of French toast on it. "Thank you." Sheldon said before walking to the table and sitting down.

"I heard you coughing earlier." Amy sat down next to Sheldon with a plate of French toast for herself. "I checked on you and you were okay but I was wondering if anything is wrong."

"I had a nightmare." Sheldon told her.

"Was it the one where you go to a parallel universe and then wake up thinking it was just a dream even though it isn't." Amy guessed "And then you're disappointed when the dream is real."

Sheldon opened his eyes in surprise. "No." he shook his head. "For the first time since I've been here it was a different nightmare."

"What was it about?" Amy asked.

Sheldon began to explain how in the dream the machine malfunctioned and Amy refused to help him anymore. He purposefully skipped over the part where Amy and Dave were kissing and went instead to him finding Penny in her underwear and Amy hitting him with a bat.

"Wow." Dave said. "That sounds awful."

"Are you upset by this nightmare?" Amy asked.

"I don't think so although I'm a little rattled." Sheldon explained before taking a bite of the toast. "Anyways I've made an important decision about my device."

"What?"

"I think I have to work on it alone from now on." Sheldon told them.

"Why?" Dave asked in surprise. "I thought you needed help."

"And you have helped. I appreciate how you've helped me financially and soldering all my circuits." Sheldon said "But I don't want you two to get hurt."

"Is this about the dream?" Amy asked. "Don't let that stop us from helping you."

"I love helping the smartest man alive!" Dave supported.

"This isn't just about the dream. I've been distracted by you and Penny and need time to work." Sheldon explained. "Back in my previous universe I got this done by finding solitude in the university's basement. I think I need to do the same."

"We don't have a basement." Dave added.

"It is the solitude part that is important, Dave." Amy informed. "Are you sure about this? We'd love to help you in anyway possible."

Sheldon thought for a second. "I think working in solitude is for the best. The most tedious part was the soldering and we've finished that."

Amy nodded. "Okay. If that is the decision you are making, then we will leave you alone."

"I still need you to take me places though. I still can't drive." Sheldon said.

"Ok." Amy nodded.

Sheldon kept eating the French toast and the taste was refreshing.

"This is delicious. Is this the same recipe your mother gave you?" Sheldon asked.

Amy looked shocked but then laughed. "Yes, yes it is." Amy said "I am always surprised when you say something like that."

#

Penny walked into the Cheesecake Factory and Leonard was already sitting at one of the tables. She took a deep breath and walked up to him.

"Good morning gorgeous." Leonard gave a wide smile.

"Hello." Penny said with disdain.

"Remember when you used to work here." Leonard reminisced "You worked here to pay off your college debts."

"Of course I do." Penny said "Worst job ever. But I got through it."

"Because of all the tips Howard and I used to give you for being sexy." Leonard laughed.

"Seriously? I was crept out by that." Penny said.

"Well you look just as sexy now." Leonard winked. Penny sighed. Yes, that was a compliment but was it really appropriate considering their history? This was going to be a long breakfast. A waitress came over and took their order. They both ordered pancakes.

"I'm going to get this over with." Penny said whilst leaning closer to Leonard.

"Are you going to kiss me?" Leonard puckered his lips.

"Ew. Disgusting." Penny said. "I just need a selfie with you to post on Facebook."

Penny quickly took a photo before leaning back. She posted the photo on Facebook in hopes that Sheldon would see it. The waitress came back to their table and gave them their pancakes. They sat in silence for the next few minutes and ate.

"These pancakes taste exactly the same as when you worked here." Leonard said.

"I believe the cook that worked here when I did still does." Penny told him "She is one of those people who comes to Los Angeles for an acting career but end up working in a menial career their whole lives."

"That would be terrible." Leonard shook his head.

"There are no universes where that would ever happen to me." Penny giggled

"Yes because if you did pursue an acting you'd book every job." Leonard complimented "You are too sexy to turn down."

Penny couldn't help blush at that comment but then got her mind straight.

"Don't flatter me Leonard." She grumbled.

"I saw your face turn red." Leonard said.

"Whatever." Penny looked down and put some pancake into her mouth.

"In all seriousness though." Leonard began. "Why did you want a selfie with me?"

"I am not telling you." Penny said before eating more of her pancake.

Leonard shrugged. "I am going to assume it is because of Dr. Whackadoodle. I knew he'd drive you crazy one day and you'd run to me for…"

"Leonard please…" Penny interrupted. "I am just here for breakfast and a selfie. I don't need you to analyse my life."

"Well I'm just happy you chose me as your selfie friend." Leonard gave a big smile.

Penny sighed and kept eating. She began calculating how quick she could eat the pancakes.

#

Sheldon walked into Amy and Dave's office followed by the two of them carrying large boxes. They put them down and took tired breaths.

Sheldon smiled. "Okay. I think I can continue to work in this space." He turned to Amy and Dave. "Thank you for carrying the boxes. Now please leave so I can work."

"Are you sure you want us to not help you?" Amy asked with concern.

"I know your concerned for me but I don't need distraction from you or the smart version of Penny." Sheldon explained. "So, leave."

"Fine." Amy nodded.

"Good luck Sheldon." Dave said. "I know you can do it. I'm a bit disappointed that I don't get to work with you anymore. Is there any chance you can reconsider? I can pay you if you want…"

"Dave!" Amy reprimanded "We are already paying him!"

"Oh." Dave said "I guess that means this a goodbye. I will miss you."

Amy gave an awkward smile and the two left the room.

#

Penny and Leonard talked for longer than expected. They caught up on their lives since they stopped talking and Leonard gradually made less and less creepy remarks throughout the conversation. To Penny it was almost like he was forcing himself to make those remarks because of hatred. At the end of their meal together Leonard and Penny paid and walked out of the Cheesecake Factory.

"This was nicer than I thought it would be." Penny said honestly.

"Well I was nicer than I thought I was going to be." Leonard said back.

"I know. Every interaction we've had since Sheldon and I began being romantic has been with such hate." Penny explained "It was nice to talk to you properly again."

"I agree." Leonard concurred "We should have done this earlier."

"Well I wasn't the stubborn one who hated on Sheldon." Penny reminded.

"Well I wasn't the one who wouldn't hang out with me until I made up with Sheldon." Leonard rebutted.

"Well we should just agree we both were acting rashly." Penny suggested. "Do you think we could make a truce?"

"What kind of truce do you propose?" Leonard asked curiously.

"Well firstly you can stop insulting me, Sheldon and Howard and Raj all the time and taking away our work equipment." Penny suggested.

"I can try to do that." Leonard said. "But you can't flaunt you relationship with Sheldon in front of me. Sometimes I can't help getting jealous." Leonard looked to the ground in embarrassment.

"I will try to do that." Penny said. "And given Sheldon's current state of mind that shouldn't be too hard." Penny held out her hand and he two shook hands for the truce.

The two said a mutual goodbye and walked towards their cars. Penny thought about how odd this interaction was. The date has started off awkward but as they talked they found the friendship that they had before she stared dating Sheldon. Was she beginning to like Leonard again? She shook her in disbelief. Leonard had tormented her and Sheldon for being in love for too long and him being nice for once couldn't rectify that. But they did now have a spoken truce, so maybe she could be less harsh on the guy.

Penny looked down at her phone and saw that Sheldon had not liked or commented on the photo with Leonard. Had he seen it? Was he jealous? Penny hoped it would at least spark some interest in her again.

#

It was 8pm on Sunday when Amy came to pick Sheldon up at Dave's lab. Sheldon had nearly fell asleep at 7:30pm whilst trying to work so he texted Amy to pick him up. When she arrived she knocked on the door and he opened it. He nodded his head and she walked in.

"Dave had a prior engagement so it is just me." Amy told him. "How was your work today?"

"I think I did very well." Sheldon said with a smile. "I used some of the circuit boards we soldered yesterday to construct parts of my machine."

"How much did you build?" Amy ask.

"I'd say I am about half-way done." Sheldon told her. Amy's eyes opened wide with shock.

"Half way done!" she exclaimed. "That is hard to believe!"

"Look over here then." Sheldon walked over to a lab desk where there was a plastic box with machine parts connected inside. Amy recognised certain parts from the plans that Sheldon showed her.

"I am very impressed Sheldon." She congratulated. "Good job."

"I know." Sheldon said happily. "Soon enough I'll be finished and I can be with my Amy again."

"You still have to figure out how to get back to your universe because going into the parallel universe generator could just get you stuck in another universe." Amy reminded. She noticed Sheldon looking away.

Suddenly Sheldon began crying and he couldn't stop. Thoughts of his universe's Amy came to his mind and how much she did to make him happy. He felt a very odd emotion that he tried to place.

"It'll all be okay." Amy gave Sheldon a comforting hug. "You'll find a way."

"I love Amy." He said in between each tear. "My Amy of course. It is the only logical explanation for why I feel this way. I never found much use for the L-word before. But coming to this universe and not being with her and having the possibility of not being with her again has made me realise this." Sheldon didn't reject the hug Amy gave him as it felt comforting.

"I understand Sheldon." Amy said. She took a deep breath. "We should go and put you to sleep. You need to have a clear head to get back to Amy. I mean 'your Amy' and not me."

"Of course." Sheldon nodded, Amy and Sheldon grabbed the supply boxes and the two walked out of the office, locked the door and towards the parking lot.

 **Thank you for reading. Sorry for the large gap in time between this chapter and the last I posted but I had exams and then huge writers block over the course of my holidays. I got this chapter written but I've struggled writing any other stories which saddens me because I love to write. Sorry if this story seems to be going slow but I've purposefully allowed Sheldon to speed up the manufacturing of the machine to help with this and next chapter should quicken the pace. Some stuff in this chapter seems like filler but I hope it wasn't too bad. If you'd like to leave feedback please review, favourite or follow. Thank you all once again for reading and for your patience.**

 **Clint Cooper**


	12. Chapter 12

It was Monday and Dave needed his laboratory again for his work.

"But why can't I just continue to use his lab?!" Sheldon argued with Amy over breakfast. She'd given him cereal per his request.

"I'd be happy to give him my lab." Dave smiled "It'd be like a celebrity is working in there."

Amy sighed and shook her head. "Dave, you need to work. We need money if we are going to continue a life together." She gave Dave a knowing stare which stopped him from giving any argument. He simply nodded. "And Sheldon. What did I say respecting people's lives in this universe?"

Sheldon sighed and nodded. "Fine! Dave needs to work and I should respect that. But where will I finish my machine? Do you want me to cry again?"

"Isn't there physics laboratories at Caltech?" Amy asked. "You can work there. Your 'this universe' counterpart would be expected to go into work anyways."

"I'm a theoretical physicist, Amy." Sheldon rebutted. "I don't have a laboratory. I just have a whiteboard and brain."

"You could always ask Penny." Dave suggested. "She is an experimental physicist and would try and please you…"

Sheldon shook his head. "I am not going near her ever again."

"Dave's idea is good. You need to work and so do we on our own job." Amy continued "I know Penny traumatised you when she posed in that underwear but I doubt she'll be stripping naked in her laboratory."

Sheldon shrugged. "I remember Leonard and Penny having coitus in his laboratory back in my universe…" he began to argue but Amy gave a stare, similar to the one she gave Dave. It made Sheldon back down. "Fine! I'll ask if I can borrow her lab. But I won't do it with a smile!"

Amy nodded. "Good. Now let's get in the car so we can drive to work."

#

"Thank you for walking me to Penny's lab." Sheldon said sincerely. "I'd probably would have stopped myself otherwise."

"Oh, that is okay." Amy said back.

"Something about you just makes me want to be a stronger person." He admitted.

Amy felt herself blush at the comment. "Oh, thank you." She said. "But I should go. I don't think I should be here when you talk to Penny."

Sheldon nodded. "That is for the best. She thinks you want to do the 'dance with no pants' with me."

Amy giggled at this phrasing. "Okay Sheldon. Goodbye." She waved and walked away. Sheldon stood in front of Penny's laboratory and took a deep breath.

Knock. Knock. Knock. "Penny!"

He saw her shadow underneath the small crack in the door.

Knock. Knock. Knock. "Penny!"

Penny suddenly opened the door and saw him standing there. "Oh sweetie!" she said happily and gave him a hug. He rolled his eyes and endured it as long as possible. He couldn't stop imagining her in her underwear wanting coitus and cringed.

Knock. Knock. Knock. "Penny!" he said again once she stopped the hug.

"Why did you knock three times?" Penny asked.

"I always knock three times." He explained. Penny gave a confused look and shook her head.

"You've always knocked twice."

Sheldon shrugged. "Trivial." He said. "I am here because…"

"Have you seen the photos of Howard and Raj's baby on Facebook?" she asked.

Sheldon shook his head. "No, I have been concentrating on work all weekend."

She looked down at the ground with a look of worry. "I'll show you."

Sheldon wanted to work but felt himself get pulled over to Penny's work computer. She opened Facebook and clicked on Raj's Facebook profile. There was a picture of a smiling Howard and Raj with a small child wrapped in a white blanket.

"Cute isn't he?" Penny asked. "The university has given them a few days off so they can adjust. We won't be seeing them for a few days."

Sheldon could not tell if a baby was cute. He just saw them as germ machines that always make annoying loud noises.

"He looks…. Baby-like." Sheldon added. Suddenly Penny's hand slipped on the mouse and she'd accidentally clicked on her profile name. Her profile came up and showed the most recent post she'd made. Sheldon suddenly felt confused when he saw a picture of smiling Leonard and Penny. He didn't care enough though to ask.

"Okay." He nodded. "I need to ask a favour."

Penny looked confused by something and kept moving the mouse around the picture of her and Leonard. "What kind of favour?"

"I need to borrow this lab." He said.

"What do you need it for?" Penny asked.

"As you know I am currently writing a paper on parallel universes and have derived a …. Experiment … test … that I would like to test." He explained.

"Why can't I do it?" Penny asked. "It is my job as an experimental physicist!"

"I only trust results performed by me." Sheldon made an excuse. Penny gave an almost offended look.

"I need to work today." Penny said in an angry tone. "But Dr. Johnson is out on sick leave. You can use his laboratory."

"Really?" Sheldon asked.

Penny took a breath of disappointment. "Yes. I have the spare key." She took a key from a key chain and gave it to him. "No fooling around though. He asked me to look after it."

Sheldon gulped. If the machine malfunctioned and destroyed the lab this universe's Penny could get into a lot of trouble. He suddenly thought of his Amy missing him and took the keys with no hesitation. "Thank you." He said.

"See you later." Penny said.

"Of course." Sheldon replied hesitantly before leaving the room. He texted Amy about how he got the lab from Penny so she knew where to pick him up at the end of the day.

#

Without Amy or Dave's help carrying the supply boxes took several trips but he eventually managed it. He was surprised to find the name on the experimental physics lab was Zack Johnson. Dr. Johnson was Penny's ex-boyfriend, at least his universe's Penny's ex-boyfriend. Sheldon thought a science experiment involving radioactive spiders or something must have occurred to cause that kind of change.

He began to work on the machine. Doing it by himself was tedious but he thought of Amy and that was motivation enough. Every time he finished a section of the machine and saw he still had several parts to build he'd remember important events with Amy like when they met, when they became a couple, when she made him cocoa and French toast or when she and him sat in silence for several hours just enjoying each other's company. Then he would continue constructing the machine.

At about lunch time someone knocked on the door. He quickly hid the machine, walked over the door and opened it. He saw Amy and let her in.

"What are you doing here?" Sheldon asked curiously. "I don't need any distractions."

"I'm here to check up on you. And to make sure you are eating. Have you eaten since breakfast?"

His stomach grumbled as if to answer. She looked at him knowingly. "When my brain takes over and I'm working, my focus isn't divided." He explained.

"Well I'm here to force you to eat." Amy said "Now hippity hop, quick like a bunny to the cafeteria."

"You know I don't like bunnies Amy!" Sheldon rebutted. She looked at him with a confused expression

"I've never heard you say that." She said.

"Oh, sorry." He apologised. "I'm thinking of another Amy. My Amy"

"I understand." Amy nodded. Sheldon walked out of the lab and locked it, and he two walked towards the cafeteria. Sheldon explained all the work he'd achieved and Amy responded with support and smiles. Sheldon couldn't help smile back.

The two walked into the cafeteria. Sheldon bought a burger whilst Amy bought a lasagne. The two walked towards the seating area and saw several available seats. Sheldon saw Leonard and Penny sitting at a table talking. Penny looked over to Amy and Sheldon and gave an odd smile. She turned around and leant into Leonard to say something.

"Maybe we should just eat in our laboratory." Sheldon suggested.

"No. You'll just work instead of eating." Amy said.

"Well I'm not sitting near them." Sheldon said.

Amy nodded and the two picked a faraway seat.

#

It was 6pm and Amy was looking at the machine Sheldon had been working on. Sheldon flicked on the switch that turned on the electricity and the machine came to life. Many lights came on which demonstrated parts were working correctly.

"Impressive." Amy said with a smile.

"It is about 80% finished." He told her. "I need to use the machine in Penny's lab to finish it though."

"We can figure that out tomorrow." Amy told him. "For now we need to go home, have dinner and rest." Sheldon nodded and walked towards the door. Suddenly Penny walked up to the door and knocked on it.

"Hello Sheldon." She said. "And Amy." She added with disdain.

"Hi Penny." Sheldon said. "We were just leaving."

"Are you coming back home with me?" Penny asked with home.

"I just need a few more nights to concentrate on my work." Sheldon lied.

"Well I need to ask you something." Penny requested.

"As long as it isn't about sports or coitus I think it'll be okay to ask." Sheldon said.

"Well, Leonard and I are going to the movies to see Green Lantern 2. I just wanted to make sure you were okay with it…"

"Green Lantern 2?..." Sheldon questioned

"Wait." Amy interrupted. "Why are you going out with Leonard?"

"We are friends now." Penny explained. "We've worked out our differences and such."

Amy shook her head. "That is unacceptable. Are you going to let her do that to you Sheldon?"

"Um…" Sheldon was confused at what Amy was saying. "Probably."

"If you are jealous Sheldon, I understand." Penny said. "I can call it off and go with you instead."

"No." Sheldon shook his head. "Too much work to do."

"We could always try and ignore this." Amy thought aloud. "But we might need something to focus on."

"What are you doing Amy?" Sheldon asked.

"Sheldon will be happy to let you go to the movies with Leonard, but we need full access to your laboratory tomorrow." Amy bargained. "I know Leonard put the machine back in there earlier."

"I just need that one machine!" Sheldon argued.

"It will be for just one day." Amy argued. "You can use Dr. Johnson's lab tomorrow."

Sheldon looked at Penny hopefully and Penny saw this.

"Okay then." She said begrudgingly. "I'll go out with Leonard tonight and you can use my lab tomorrow."

"Thankyou." Sheldon said.

Penny looked at her phone. "Leonard says he will be taking me to dinner afterwards. How nice."

"Not a good idea." Sheldon shook his head.

Penny gave a sudden look of hope. "Really?"

"That would mean an extra bowel movement at work and that is just an added annoyance to your day." Sheldon shook his head.

Penny sighed. "I'll see you later Sheldon." She gave him a sudden kiss straight on the lips and then walked away. Sheldon wiped his lips with disgust.

"Do you have any mouthwash?" he asked Amy.

"No."

"Any at home?"

"I think we ran out this morning." She told him.

"We'll have to stop at the shops on the way back." Sheldon told her. She nodded.

"Let's go." She said. "Dave is waiting in the car." The two walked away from the labs and towards the exit.

#

"That was a great movie." Leonard said whilst eating dinner with Penny.

"The first was a classic and I didn't think they could top it." Penny added. "But they did. I'm definitely looking forward to another sequel."

"Given the box office, a sequel is very likely." Leonard said. Penny nodded. The two were eating spaghetti at an Italian restaurant near the movie theatre.

"How are you and Sheldon?" Leonard asked.

"You called him Sheldon." Penny pointed out. "You didn't try and disguise his name by saying 'Whackadoodle' or something."

"You are avoiding the question." Leonard pointed out. She looked down in embarrassment.

"He has been even more distant lately." She explained. "All he does is work and hang out with Amy Farrah Fowler."

"You're hanging out with me to make him jealous, correct?" he asked. She looked down once again and that gave him his answer. "It is okay if you are. I am happy to help after those year of me being such a jerk. But is it working?"

She shook her head to mean no. She opened Facebook and showed him a post.

"Ice Skater Bernadette Rostenkowski in critical condition after ice-dancing accident?" Leonard questioned with confusion.

"Oops, must have loaded an ad or something and moved upwards." She said and scrolled downwards. She showed him the selfie from the breakfast. "There are several likes and comments but none from Sheldon. I even showed him it earlier today and he seemed un-phased."

"I might be biased Penny." Leonard began to advise. "But I think your relationship may be coming to an end."

"What? No! It can't be." She shook her head.  
"I can't decide for you." He added. "But eventually you will get overly frustrated with him and end it."

"But I love him!" she argued back. A tear fell down her face.

"Didn't you love Kurt to?" Leonard questioned.

"Yeah. But what has that got to with anything…"

"He cheated on you multiple times and you forgave him because you loved him." He explained. "Then one day he crossed the line. Slept with two of your best friends at once. You left him forever despite still loving him. It turned out for the better. You moved away from him and met Sheldon and I."

"Gosh I regret that relationship." She shook her head. "But Sheldon wouldn't cheat on me. I know he has been around Amy Farrah Fowler but I believe that he hasn't done anything with her."

"But we can apply Kurt's situation to yours, as one day he'll take it too far." Leonard explained. "He'll ignore you on your anniversary or birthday or Valentine's Day. Or maybe he'll skip out on you when your parents visit. You'll decide enough is enough."

"What should I do?" Penny asked.

"I feel bad for giving this advice." Leonard shook his head. "Sheldon was once my closest friend."

"Please Leonard!" Penny begged. "If you give me advice I don't have to take it."

Leonard nodded. "Okay. If you break up with him now, you'll save yourself the pain for when he goes to far."

She took a deep breath. "I'll have to think about it."

"Of course." Leonard agreed. "It is a major life decision."

"Can we change the topic?" Penny asked. "I'd like to have happy thoughts again."

"Okay." Leonard nodded.

"Did you see the pictures of Howard and Raj's baby?" she asked. Leonard shook his head no. Penny opened her phone and showed him a post.

"Stuart Bloom, owner of Bloom's Comics, dating rap-artist Taylor Swift?" Leonard read with confusion.

Penny rolled her eyes. "No." she laughed. "An ad must have loaded again or something." She scrolled down and showed the image of Howard and Raj with their child. Leonard involuntarily squeed.

"That is so cute!"

Penny smiled. "I know. It makes me want a child."

"Me too." Leonard said. "I'm so happy for them." Penny looked straight into Leonard's eyes which were not angry like they'd been for years. They were filled with happiness and love. Suddenly Penny thought of how good Leonard would make as a boyfriend. She suddenly shook her head out of the thought with a wide eyed expression of shock. What was she even thinking?

"Are you okay?" Leonard asked with concern.

She nodded quickly whilst looking down. "Yes... Nothing." She took a bite of her spaghetti before anything else could come out of her mouth.

 **No updates for weeks and then two in two days? Are we in a parallel universe? No, I was just more inspired to write this chapter I guess. The writer's block I had for this story is completely gone! I am really happy about that! I enjoyed myself again whilst writing this chapter.**

 **Thanks for reading. What do you think about Penny and Leonard's discussion? That might be bad for the parallel universe's Sheldon if he appears ever (Reviewers really want him to. I might have to consider adding him at some point.). If you'd like to leave feedback please favourite, follow or review. Thanks again.**

 **Clint Cooper.**


	13. Chapter 13

"Thanks for helping me carry my supply boxes." Sheldon thanked Amy as she and him walked towards Penny's laboratory. They were carrying the boxes that held the machine and the materials needed to construct it.

"That is okay." Amy said. "If I can't help make the machine, then I'm happy to help carry some boxes."

"How kind." Sheldon gave a smile.

They'd arrived at Penny's laboratory door and Sheldon put the boxes down. He knocked on the door three times in his typical three-knock pattern but there was no response from the other side. He tried opening the door but it was locked.

"She is probably late." Sheldon said "Back at home she was always annoyingly tardy."

"Do you want me to stay until she arrives?" Amy asked as she put down the boxes she was holding.

Sheldon shook his head. "You can leave if you wish to get to work. I can wait." He said "I remember once waiting half an hour for Penny to change her outfit so we could go to Starbucks."

Amy nodded. "Okay. I'll come get you at lunch to make sure you are eating."

Amy said goodbye and walked away from the lab.

#

Penny opened the door to enter her work building at Caltech.

"Hold the door!" she heard behind her. She turned and saw Leonard pacing towards her.

"Good morning Leonard." She said as he caught up to her. When he made it to her he closed the door with her.

"Good morning to you too." He replied "I have to do some financial work for the Chemistry department so I'll be walking with you." Penny remembered that Leonard was the financial and fund manager for the science and engineering departments of the university.

"You think Physics and Chemistry are the same?" Penny asked like she was offended.

Leonard shook his head. "You have to walk through the Physics department to get to Chemistry." He explained.

"Oh." Penny nodded.

"Believe me, after living with Sheldon for several years, I know the difference." Leonard clarified. Penny couldn't help but laugh.

The two walked in silence for a few seconds before Penny decided to talk again.

"Last night was fun." She said. "We should go the movies together more often."

"It could become a regular thing." Leonard suggested. "We could go to the movies every week or fortnight or something."

"Yeah." Penny agreed "We could have dinner before or after and discuss our lives and developments in physics and finance."

"Sounds great." Leonard smiled.

Penny noticed how their conversation flowed like they were friends. It was nice after the years that they'd been angry at each other. Sure, it was the same Leonard who acting angry out of jealousy, but she knew forgiveness meant overseeing wrongdoings like that. Penny's thoughts were interrupted when her phone began to ring.

"Excuse me." Penny said to Leonard as she answered. "Hello." She said into the phone.

"Is this Penny, Sheldon Cooper's girlfriend?" she heard a female voice say on the other end.

"Yeah, it is Penny." She answered.

"This is Huntington Hospital in Pasadena." The voice said "We have Sheldon Cooper here and he listed you as a contact…"

"Oh my gosh!" Penny exclaimed "What happened? Is he okay?" Penny saw Leonard looked curious at this conversation.

"He is fine but he was picked up by the Pasadena Police Department last night after being found unconscious." The woman elaborated "I can't explain much more over the phone. You'll need to come and pick him up immediately."

Penny took a deep breath. "Okay. I'll be there straight away." She said goodbye and then hung up.

"What is wrong?" Leonard asked with concern.

"Sheldon is in the hospital. Apparently he was found unconscious." Penny explained hastily. "I have to go and collect him."

"What? How did he get unconscious?"

"I don't know but I bet it has something to do with that skank, Amy Farrah Fowler." She guessed "He has really changed since he began hanging out with her."

"Do you need someone to go with you or…."

"Thank you but no, Leonard." Penny shook her head. "You stay and work on financing the Chemistry department." She turned quickly and headed back towards the doors of the building. Leonard watched with concern as she walked away.

#

Knock. Knock. Knock. "Amy."

Knock. Knock. Knock. "Amy."

"Hello Sheldon. I didn't expect…"

"I am not finished knocking on your laboratory door yet!" Sheldon exclaimed.

"Fine." Amy said calmly. "Keep going."

Knock. Knock. Knock "Amy."

"Hello Sheldon. I didn't expect to see you until lunch." Amy greeted. She was in her lab coat and was wearing safety glasses and gloves as she was dissecting a brain.

"Me too." Sheldon agreed "But Penny didn't show up to her experimental physics lab for fifty minutes. I looked around for a bit and tried calling her but got no response. I had no other choice but to come here." Sheldon elaborated on what had happened. When Sheldon arrived at the universe he'd found a phone and keys in his parallel universe counterpart's office and since he didn't realise he was in a different universe and they looked the same as his at home, he took them.

Amy's face turned to anger. "Penny probably is getting revenge on you for ignoring her or something. What a skank!"

"My thoughts exactly. Except for the gratuitous swear word." Sheldon added. Amy laughed at his innocence.

"Where are your equipment boxes?" Amy asked.

"I slipped a janitor a dollar to help move it to my office." Sheldon explained and then sighed in frustration. "Do you know how to pick locks?"

Amy looked straight at Sheldon. "We are not breaking into Penny's lab!"

Sheldon took a deep breath once again and shook his head. "If I can't get into the lab I can't use the machine that is necessary to construct my machine. There always seems to be some tedious obstacle to overcome!"

"Overcoming obstacles is just life in general Sheldon." Amy comforted. "You'll just have to wait until you can find Penny."

"It is a little frustrating but you are right." Sheldon nodded. "I guess every Science Fiction movie or book I've ever read has had the dashing hero go through many a challenge, facing many a villain…"

"Sheldon?" A voice from outside the office said with confusion. Amy and Sheldon turned and saw Leonard looking at them. He was carrying an expenditure report that the Chemistry department had just given him, to give to Dr. Zarnecki who was a biologist. This was why he was walking through the biology labs.

"Hello Leonard." Sheldon greeted. "Given your apprehension towards me, I am surprised you stopped to talk to me."

Leonards confused expression became more prominent the longer Sheldon looked at him. "Well… um… I'm kind of turning a new leaf…" he began. "And… I am sorry… I am really confused…"

"I'm not surprised given you only work in finance." Sheldon stated.

"Sheldon! Be nice!" Amy reprimanded.

"Sorry." Sheldon apologised. "I've had a really stressful day."

"You mean like being found unconscious and being taken to the hospital?" Leonard asked. Now Sheldon was confused. He thought that maybe Leonard was using sarcasm to mock him.

Sheldon decided to not play his mind games and answer honestly. "The lab I wanted to work in is locked."

"I am still confused." Leonard said and it looked like he was being honest. "Penny had to go and pick you up at Huntington Hospital. She said they found you unconscious." Even Amy was confused now.

"Maybe the hospital made a mistake and it is a random hobo." Sheldon thought aloud.

Amy suddenly piped in. "Oh dear!"

"What is wrong?" Sheldon asked.

"It might be you." Amy added subtly.

"What do you mean…" Sheldon began to ask before his eyes opened in shock and realised what Amy meant. "Oh no!"

"I know!" Amy agreed.

Leonard looked at the two of them with even more confusion. "Are you two on drugs?" he asked.

Sheldon shook his head. "No, buddy." He turned to Amy and said "I have to go and remove all that stuff from his office!" Sheldon walked out of the office quickly and towards 'his'.

"I'll come help!" Amy said loudly so Sheldon could still hear. Amy quickly packed away the brains she was working on and took off her gloves and safety coat. She then washed her hands as quickly as she could in her rushed state.

"What are you two doing?" Leonard asked.

"None of your business." Amy replied. "But please leave. I need to lock up and help Sheldon." She requested. Leonard respectfully stepped out of the office. Amy locked the lab door and hurried after Sheldon.

Leonard shook his head in disbelief. "I am definitely mentioning this to Penny the next time we hang out."

Leonard took out his phone and texted Penny four times.

 _How is everything?_

 _I had the weirdest run in with Sheldon and Amy that I need to tell you about._

 _And who was it at the hospital? Or did you already bring him back?_

 _You must have sped there. Be safe._

 _#_

Sheldon and Amy rushed along the hallways of Caltech, to get his equipment from 'his' to Amy's office for safe keeping. They were with a familiar, to Sheldon at least, janitor who had a large trolley where boxes were now being safely transported.

"Thank you so much Mr. Cumberbatch!" Sheldon screeched. "I can't believe I'd find you here at Caltech!"

"I don't understand." Amy stated.

"Benedict Cumberbatch, at least where I come from, plays Sherlock on the great BBC television show Sherlock with Martin Freeman as Watson." Sheldon explained.

Benedict Cumberbatch, who was pushing the trolley up the hallway began to talk in his British accent. "I've never done anything like that. I did come to Los Angeles to be an actor but the only job I got was this janitor position." He explained. "Still got my fingers crossed though I'll make it."

Sheldon giggled excitedly. "You will. You are very talented!"

"This is really confusing." Benedict said to himself.

Amy shook her head. "Dave watches Sherlock with Martin Freeman as Watson." She told him "Sherlock is played by Eric Gabblehauser. Even I have to admit he is pretty cute!"

"What? That is ridiculous!" Sheldon argued

The discussion about whether Benedict Cumberbatch is the better Sherlock over Eric Gabblehauser stopped once they'd made it to Amy's office.

"Now Amy. Give Mr. Cumberbatch a large tip!" Sheldon smiled.

Amy reluctantly gave Benedict a five dollar note to please Sheldon.

"Can I get a picture with you…"

"I'm sorry." Benedict interrupted Sheldon. "I have to go and clean up one of the labs. It was a pleasure." He walked out of the room.

"I can't believe he thought it was a pleasure!" Sheldon was jumping up and down excitedly.

Amy shook her head in disbelief. "Please Sheldon." She began "We need to have a plan for in case this universe's Sheldon actually has turned up."

Sheldon nodded. "Okay. What do you propose we do?"

"Well you or me will have to return anything you took from him, like his phone and keys, to his office." Amy began. "And then you have to stay as far away from here as possible."

"Why?" Sheldon asked.

"We can't have two Sheldon's causing some sort of confusion." Amy said.

"That seems fair. It isn't something inferior minds would be able to comprehend." Sheldon said. "But where would I make my machine?"

"We have no choice but to borrow Dave's lab." Amy sighed.

"But what about all that stuff about interrupting his work?" Sheldon queried.

"I know. Dave needs his lab." Amy thought. "But I do have a solution."

"What?"

"Do you know how people like security guards work at night time and then sleep during the day?" Amy questioned.

"Yes, I am familiar with that." Sheldon responded.

"Well, Dave is allowed to request to work throughout the night." Amy told him. "You could work throughout the night and sleep during the day!"

"That is perfect!"

"But he'd have to be there to authorise an entry during the night time." Amy said, knowing Sheldon was against having them there due to not wanting to get distracted and not wanting Amy and Dave to get hurt.

"Of course! Another irritating annoyance!" Sheldon began to breathe in and out really fast, like he was having a panic attack

"Remember this might not actually happen! It is only if the other Sheldon is here." Amy comforted "It is good we are going through this. Prepare for any situation."

"I do love preparedness." That did make him feel better. "I could allow Dave to be there, but he'd have to sleep at the other end of the office. Don't need distractions."

"If Dave is there, I will be there." Amy added. "I don't trust him to sleep with you working in front of him."

Sheldon sighed. "Fine! You can be there but you'd have to sleep too."

Amy nodded. "Good. Now all we have to do is wait for Penny to return. If she confirms the other Sheldon is here we'll quickly get you out the building!"

#

Penny no longer texted and drove at the same time. When Sheldon and her first drove together and she answered a text whilst driving he had a panic attack. He gave her a two-hour lecture on car safety and told her all the related text-and-driving statistics. She knew Sheldon was not just concerned for his safety but hers as well so she stopped and hadn't done so since. For this reason, she had only just checked her phone when she'd arrived at the hospital.

There were several missed calls from Sheldon. Penny assumed he was calling her from the hospital and that since she was about to collect him, there was no need to return the calls. Then she saw the four texts from Leonard.

Penny looked at the second and third texts and didn't understand. Why was Leonard mentioning running into Sheldon and asking if she was already back? Maybe he wanted to tell her about a run in with Sheldon on a previous day? Penny read the last message and smiled. It was flattering that Leonard was concerned with her safety. She felt her heart flutter. Penny took a deep breath to stop it. She was about to talk to her boyfriend, so it was no time for admiring another male.

Penny walked up to the counter at the hospital. They directed her to an office for concussions and she knocked on the door. A red haired woman with noticeable tattoos wearing a white doctor's coat opened the door.

"Hello." Penny greeted. "I'm Penny here for Sheldon Cooper."

Penny held out her hand and the doctor shook it. "Good morning. I am Dr. Emily Sweeny and I took care of Sheldon throughout the night."

Penny walked into the office. "Thank you so much." Penny said sincerely. "Can I have more information about what happened to Sheldon?"

"Of course." Dr. Sweeny nodded. The two sat down across from each other. "Sheldon Cooper was picked up last night by the Pasadena Police Department. He was knocked out and they brought him here immediately. He had a fairly minor concussion but his fragile nature caused him to be 'out' for longer than expected."

"Is there any long term effects?" Penny asked.

Dr. Sweeny shook her head. "No. He'll need to rest for a day or so but he'll be able to fully return to his work."

Penny took a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness." She said. "Do you know why he was unconscious?"

"He seemed to be confused about that." Dr. Sweeny said. "He said something about being drugged and then beaten up."

"Oh my gosh!" Penny exclaimed. "I have to see him! He needs me right now!"

Dr. Sweeny nodded. "Yes. Of course. I'll take you to his hospital bed."

Penny and Dr. Sweeny left her office and walked to a recovery room. She walked up to a bed which was empty.

"That is odd." Dr. Sweeny thought aloud.

"I'm right here Doctor." A voice behind them said. The two turned and saw Sheldon who seemed to be adjusting his flash T-Shirt. "I was getting ready to leave. I was NOT going to get dressed in front of these recovering sick people so I found a secluded area…." Sheldon just noticed that Penny was standing next to the doctor.

"Malarkey! I can't believe it!" Sheldon rushed towards Penny and gave a long hug. "I would kiss you but I have hospital breath!"

Penny was startled. Something had definitely changed. Sheldon seemed against any sort of physical contact over the past week. It was like Sheldon was suddenly back to his usual self.

 **And look who it is. Another Sheldon. It is time to give you reviewers what you've been asking for, as I feel it is right for the story to do it now. Thank you for reviewing. Writing this chapter was a blast and I loved doing it! I also love putting in references to the other universe. Makes it interesting to write. I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed the last two chapters! I really appreciated it! If you'd like to give feedback please review, favourite or follow as it always makes me smile. Thank you all again.**

 **Clint Cooper.**


	14. Chapter 14

Penny signed Sheldon out of the hospital and he was mostly silent as she did this. He only spoke up to say a random fact about hospitals or to criticise an aspect of the hospital. What Penny wanted to know was how Sheldon had gotten unconscious in the first place. Sheldon had already given a report to the police but she wanted to hear the story from his own mouth. She was sure that it had something to do with Amy, who she couldn't help but hate due to jealousy. She now actually understood the feeling Leonard felt towards Sheldon throughout the past few years.

Sheldon got into Penny's car and she began to drive.

"You missed the road to go to Caltech." Sheldon criticised.

"I'm taking you home." Penny told him.

"I can't go home!" Sheldon disagreed. "I've missed days at work! I need to continue finding topics for my new paper!"

Penny felt a wave of confusion from that statement because he'd already decided to write about parallel universes, but she didn't bother to argue and continued to drive to their apartment

"Please take me to work!" Sheldon exclaimed. She shook her head to represent no.

"Please, Penny." He begged. She saw Sheldon would be persistent.

"Fine!" Penny said. "But no working overtime and you're going home with me at 5pm!"

"I agree to that!" Sheldon said. "Not that it would matter. I don't ever work overtime."

"Well you've been working overtime the past few days." Penny argued with his statement.

"I've been missing for days!" Sheldon argued "Haven't you been missing me?"

"I've been missing you but not because you've been missing." Penny explained.

"Why have you been missing me then?"

"Because you've been hanging out with Amy Farrah Fowler all the time." Penny stated like it was obvious.

"The monkey biologist?" Sheldon questioned "I've seen her at work a few times but I've never spent time with her or even talked to her..."

"Did something happen to your brain when you were unconscious?" Penny asked "Because I've seen you talking to her. I saw you at her house!"

"Nothing is wrong with my brain. Dr. Sweeny said everything was fine." Sheldon stated. "And I've never been to her house."

Penny's mind was running in circles. She had no idea why Sheldon was being dismissive of Amy and it was starting to annoy her. She needed more information. "Can you explain what happened to you that made you unconscious?"

"Of course." Sheldon said. "After being applauded for my paper disproving String Theory I was struggling to find a new direction for my next paper. Last Wednesday I was making no progress and decided to go for a walk to clear my thoughts. When I returned you, Raj and Howard had all left the university. My office door was locked and this made me feel very confused. Then I felt foolish because I remembered that I forgot my keys and left them in my office which meant I had locked myself out. I'd decided I had no choice but to go home. I forced myself to travel on the bus and on the way there…" he paused. "…my memory is blurry from there."

"Tell me what you know." Penny said.

"I think my memory is faded because I recall being drugged. I remember being taken to someone's house and they were angry that I disproved String Theory because they'd been working on it for years. They beat me up and locked me in a room. I escaped last night but because of my lack of food I must have collapsed." He continued to explain.

"You have to be lying." Penny said "You didn't disappear on Wednesday. I've seen you since then. Heck, if you want more proof: Howard, Raj and Leonard have all seen you since Wednesday."

"That is odd." Sheldon thought aloud. "For the first time in my life my eidetic memory is failing me."

Penny thought for a second. Maybe Sheldon wasn't as fine as Dr. Sweeny thought.

"I recall a neuroscience article where I read…" Penny began thinking of a reason before Sheldon interrupted.

"Please do not badger me with insignificant brain nonsense!" Sheldon argued.

Penny sighed. When did Sheldon become so annoying? Was it when he began hanging out with Amy?

"I think you might have a memory gap." Penny said quickly before Sheldon could stop her again.

"Explain your hypothesis." Sheldon requested.

"Well I think whatever happened to you caused you to forget things. There is a gap in your memory between Wednesday where you remember taking a walk and last night where you must've returned to your locked office and found no one to take you home, so you took the bus." Penny explained.

"I don't know…" Sheldon thought. "I definitely spent a few days in that kidnapper's house…"

"Clearly you think it was longer than it was, because of the pain you felt." Penny justified.

Sheldon shook his head. "I can't believe that is true..."

"SHELDON!" Penny exclaimed. "CAN YOU PLEASE STOP ARGUING WITH ME! I'M TRYING TO HELP YOU!"

"Okay Penny. I'll stop." Sheldon said "On a side note, are you menstruating? Would explain your anger…"

Suddenly Penny indicated and stopped at the side of road in a fit of anger.

"GET OUT!" she shouted.

"Penny. I don't understand." Sheldon looked hurt.

"I don't have the emotional energy to deal with your s-word right now!" Penny exclaimed "So, walk to work!"

"Well I guess that answers my question." Sheldon said. He unbuckled his seatbelt and got out the car.

Penny continued to drive to Caltech but did so angrily which meant she was not noticing that she was speeding and getting overly annoyed at everyone on the road.

She didn't understand what was happening with her and Sheldon. When had Sheldon become such a hassle for her? Or maybe she hadn't realised that he was a hassle until he began hanging out with Amy?

#

Amy walked down to the lobby of the science building that Penny worked in and waited for Penny to return. Sheldon was in Amy's office waiting for Amy to find out from Penny whether the 'other' Sheldon had returned. Eventually Amy saw Penny walk into the building. She saw a look of anger on her face.

"Good morning, Penny." Amy made it look like she was walking somewhere and not waiting for her.

"What now?" Penny questioned with a scowl.

"I just wanted to greet you." Amy looked down. "I know you don't like me that much but I thought it'd be good to act civil."

"At any other time I would agree!" Penny began to explain angrily. "But my stupid boyfriend is annoying and I am only realising it now!"

"How so?" Amy asked.

"Well, I was driving him home from the hospital because he was found unconscious." Penny began to explain. Amy's eyes widened in shock. This meant the other Sheldon was here. "I kept trying to help but he kept arguing with me. I threw him out the car and made him walk."

Amy began breathing faster than she should have. "So where is he now?" Amy asked.

"Still walking here I assume!" Penny said.

"Ok, great." Amy smiled.

"Great?" Penny asked with confusion.

"I mean… well…." Amy tried to think of a lie. "… well… I need to go to my office to work. I'll see you later." Amy turned quickly and walked hastily away from Penny. Penny was too angry to care about this odd interaction and stormed off to her laboratory.

#

"Ok I just returned all of the 'other' Sheldon's items to his office." Amy told Sheldon.

Sheldon had transferred any documents he'd made since arriving to Amy's computer and then wiped the other Sheldon's computer of anything that had been done since he'd arrived. Even the clothes he was wearing that dsy, which belonged to the other Sheldon was returned. Luckily Sheldon had the clothes he wore when he arrived with him for safekeeping so he was now wearing those.

"So now I need to sneak out the building." Sheldon said. "But how! Someone will see me!"

"Dave is parked in the parking lot. We'll just have to walk out the building like nothing is wrong. And when doing so we won't go near the physics department." Amy explained.

"Great plan." Sheldon said sarcastically. "Walk around and hope nothing goes wrong."

"We'll have you got anything better, Mr. Genius?" Amy asked.

Sheldon thought for a second but shook his head. "No." he said. "And also, it is Dr. Genius."

"Let's go then!" Amy gestured to the door. She looked in the hallway outside her lab and saw no one walking around. Amy walked out and Sheldon followed. Amy walked in front of Sheldon so she could warn him if someone like Penny or Leonard was walking down the hallway. Sheldon checked behind him every 20 seconds to do the same thing.

The two were very lucky. There were some people walking down the hallways but they were either biologists or administrators who did not recognise Sheldon. The two had made it to the building's exit. Amy walked out and checked for anyone and then gestured for Sheldon to walk out of the building. The two walked to the parking lot where they saw Dave's car parked and they got inside it. Amy and Sheldon both breathed a sigh of relief when they finally sat in the car.

"A pleasure to drive you Dr Cooper." Dave smiled.

"Please just drive to your university Dave!" Amy demanded. Dave turned on the car and began to drive. She turned to Sheldon. "When we arrive at his university, you and Dave will go to his lab. I will drive back here and collect all your equipment and boxes for the generator." She explained. Sheldon nodded at the instructions.

The car had stopped at an intersection, with a stop sign, that connected the university's roads to a main road. Dave stopped and began to look left and right. There was a lot of traffic so he had to stop and wait.

Suddenly Sheldon's mind began to panic. Walking down the main road and towards the university was a man who looked very familiar. The man looked exactly like the person who he saw everyday in the mirror. Also the man was walking towards the car and he was staring intently at it like he'd seen something suspicious. Sheldon began to breath in and out as he thought of what to do. He decided to duck his head so he couldn't see him through the windows.

"What is wrong?" Amy asked.

"Look to your right." Sheldon whispered to her. She turned to see Sheldon Cooper walking towards them with a look of purpose on his face.

"I know myself." Sheldon said. "I probably won't hesitate to go up to a car if I think I saw something odd."

"We have to drive!" Amy demanded.

"We have to wait for the traffic, Amy!" Dave said. "I don't think we need to die over this!"

Amy saw in the distance that there was a space in the traffic but also that this universe's Sheldon was getting closer.

Parallel Universe Sheldon was a few metres away from the car when the gap in traffic came along. Dave put his foot on the accelerator quickly and drove away. Sheldon waited for about half a minute before sitting up again. Amy, Dave and Sheldon's hearts were all beating at a fast pace due the commotion.

"That was so close!" Amy said in between panicked breaths.

"We almost got caught." Sheldon said. "But we made it. Thank you Dave for getting us out of there."

"No problems Sheldon Cooper." He smiled. "A thank you from you is like adulation from a God."

"Okay, Dave." Amy couldn't help but laugh at his comment. "Your fanboy comments are getting creepy."

"It is okay Amy." Sheldon said. "I love praise." Amy kept laughing.

The car continued to drive until it reached Dave's university.

#

Leonard knocked on Penny's laboratory door and waited for her to open it. When she did, he saw an annoyed expression on her face.

"If you don't want to see me I can come back at a better time." Leonard told her.

Instead of telling him to go away Penny smiled. "Oh don't worry. I thought you'd be someone else." She gestured to the inside of her office and Leonard walked in.

"How was your trip to the hospital?" Leonard asked.

"Well Sheldon was unconscious because someone drugged and beat him up." Penny told him.

"Was he okay?" Leonard asked with concern.

"He was fine. Fine enough to make me angry at him." Penny told him.

"How so?" Leonard queried.

"He began to argue with me anytime I tried to help." Penny explained "So I threw him out the car and told him to walk." Leonard couldn't help but giggle at this.

"Well I'm sure he was fine." Leonard said. "I saw him with Amy Farrah Fowler earlier and they were chatting like they'd known each other for years."

"So he has arrived back." Penny thought aloud.

"You went and came back very quickly." Leonard added. "I was afraid you'd sped there and back."

Penny shrugged. "I didn't speed there but I did go through an orange light even though I probably shouldn't have." She told him. "I was worried about Sheldon. But now I'm just angry at him so I did speed when I drove back"

"Well if you need someone to talk to, I am here for you." Leonard offered.

"Excuse me!" someone said loudly behind them. The two of them turned and saw Sheldon Cooper at Penny's door. "What is this troglodyte doing in your lab?!"

"Hello Sheldon. Please interrupt my nice conversation with Leonard with pointless yelling!" Penny exclaimed sarcastically.

"Do you even remember what this sorry excuse for a man has done over the course of our relationship?!" Sheldon argued. "He shouldn't be anywhere near you!"

"I'm am deeply sorry Sheldon." Leonard said sincerely. "I was an angry fool. I was jealous that you were with Penny and I tormented you and I deeply regret it. Please let us be friends again. Like we were before."

Sheldon shook his head. "I refuse to let you be the bigger man. And because I don't want to forgive you, this argument is over!"

"Sheldon!" Penny said. "Be nice!"

"And what if I don't?" he asked.

Penny gulped. "then… then… then I'll break up with you."

Sheldon's eyes opened with shock. "Fine! I forgive Leonard!" he said but Penny could tell he didn't mean it. "Anyways I came here to talk to you about something important Penny."

"What?" Penny asked with anger.

"When I was walking to Caltech I saw something odd." He told her. "I saw me."

"What do you mean?" Leonard asked.

"Stay out of this shorty!" Sheldon demanded.

"What do you mean?" Penny instead asked.

"I saw me in a car. I was sitting down in the backseat and when I saw me I ducked down to stop me from seeing me. Does that make sense?"

Penny shook her head. "No."

"Typical." He shook his head. "Experimental physicists and their smaller brains…!"

"GET OUT OF HERE SHELDON!" Penny shouted.

"But don't you think it is odd…"

"You probably were hallucinating or something…." Leonard suggested. "You were probably still a bit rattled from the hospital…"

"No! I saw me!"

"See what I mean about the arguing." Penny said to Leonard and Leonard nodded. Penny then walked straight up to Sheldon.

"Are you going to kiss me?" Sheldon asked. "I've missed that…"

"No! I want you to leave my office!" Penny said. "And if you don't, I am calling campus security."

Sheldon didn't move so Penny gave him her angriest glare. He felt scared so he turned and walked out. "That woman is menstruating. I knew it!" Penny could hear him say as he left. As soon as he left the office Penny knelt down on the floor and began to cry. Leonard knelt down with her and gave her a hug.

"What has happened?" Penny asked. "Why am I so annoyed at him? Why do I want to just snap him in two and never talk to him again?"

"I think you need some space from him." Leonard suggested. "Maybe you need to take a break. To step away and evaluate the relationship from the outside."

"That is a good idea Leonard." She said. "Thankyou. I love having you as my friend again." Leonard hugged Penny tighter. Suddenly Penny was overtaken by feelings. She saw how caring Leonard was being towards her. She leant towards Leonard and was about to put her lips on his. Leonard reactively pulled away before she could kiss him.

"I'm sorry Penny." He said. "I can't do that to Sheldon."

Penny realised what she had just done and kept crying. Had she just ruined her new friendship with Leonard?

"I should go." Leonard said as he stood up. "I have to continue the work for the Chemistry department."

"Okay..." Penny said in-between tears.

Leonard took a deep breath and saw that Penny should not be left alone, not in this state.

"Do you want to come with me?" he offered. "You can come along and watch how I do my financial work. Get your mind off this Sheldon debacle."

Penny stood up. "Okay, Leonard." She said as she wiped a tear from her face. "And I'm sorry for what I just tried to do."

"Let's not speak of it." He said. "Okay?"

"Okay." Penny agreed. The two walked out and towards the Chemistry department.

 **Wow. What a whirlwind of a chapter. I had so much fun writing this. The new Sheldon causes some trouble. Penny seems to be confused about her emotions and how she now feels about Sheldon. And then she tries to kiss Leonard. And Sheldon saw Sheldon. What will he try to do about it? And can our Sheldon make it home to his universe and to his Amy?**

 **Thank you for reading. I appreciate all the reviews. I was thinking it is like Sheldon in The Champagne Reflection where he reads a small comment about Fun with Flags and gets really excited. Also I begin university again today. This will unfortunately mean less often updates. It makes me sad but my university work comes first. But I still hope to write when I can. If you wish to leave feedback please review, favourite and/or follow. Thank you all again.**

 **Clint Cooper.**


	15. Chapter 15

Amy walked back into Caltech. She needed to collect the materials that Sheldon required to build his wormhole generator and he left those in her office for safekeeping. The last time she walked through these halls she had to do so carefully because she had to get Sheldon to her car without anyone significant seeing him. Now it didn't matter. She was able to walk the halls without a care.

But her heart skipped a beat when she walked up to her office and saw Sheldon standing in front of her door. Unless 'her Sheldon' had somehow gotten to Caltech before her, and she gave strict orders to Dave to stop him from leaving his university, this had to be this universe's Sheldon. It was odd seeing him. Before this unusual venture with parallel universe machines she'd never took notice of Sheldon Cooper. They'd worked at the same university for years but at official events she always talked to her biologist friends and she assumed he only talked to his physics friends. There was Dave's obsession but like his favourite television shows she knew of Sheldon but didn't take any more notice. She was curious to how this Sheldon would be different. Would they act similar?

Sheldon appearing at her door meant Penny must have told 'this Sheldon' about how he had been hanging around with Amy. She took a deep breath and approached her door.

"Hello Dr. Cooper." She greeted.

"Good morning Dr. Fowler." This Sheldon said. "I assume you know who I am."

Amy nodded and gave a fake laugh. "Why would you think that?" she tried to ask sarcastically but was genuinely curious.

"Well my memory has gone catawampus for the first time ever because of an unfortunate incident." He explained. "I remember being missing since Wednesday but the general consensus is that I've been with you for the past few days."

Amy had to make up something. "Yes. You were doing a paper. You asked my physicist husband for help. Even though I'm a neuroscientist I managed to help…" Sheldon reactively scoffed.

"I doubt a brain monkey would help." He interrupted. Amy had to not get angry. She needed this to go smoothly.

"Well I did." She said calmly. "Now, Dr. Cooper. Is there anything else you wish to remember?"

"Why don't we go into your office and talk for longer?" Sheldon suggested. Amy shook her head no. Sheldon would see the boxes with the parallel universe generator and get curious.

"Do you really want to go in my office where I cut up brains?" Amy asked. "Germs everywhere!"

This Sheldon shuddered. "Why don't we go to my office then? You can explain why there is all this stuff of mine splattered around there." He said. Amy remembered not taking much care of placement when returning his things. She just put all of this Sheldon's belongings in the office and then left quickly. After a short pause Amy shrugged.

"You must have put them there." She said. "You've been working late. You've had a lot more of your things here because you've stayed here longer. And you must've been tired and not cared much about cleanliness."

"Not cared about cleanliness!" He said like he was offended. "Look, Dr. Fowler! I'm really confused! I don't remember anything from the past few days and my girlfriend is really angry at me for an unknown reason. I just need some clarity!"

"I've explained everything Dr. Cooper." Amy said. "All I can say is that I helped you and we worked together like scientists should."

"Does that mean we are working together today?" this Sheldon asked. Amy gulped. She needed to make something up to divert him elsewhere.

"Today I need to work on my brain study." She explained. "And given your mental state I think a break is necessary."

Sheldon nodded. "I understand Dr. Fowler. Thank you for the information you've given me." He said. "It wasn't very helpful but at least you aren't snapping at me in a menstruated rage."

"I'm always happy to help Dr. Cooper." Amy gave a smile to comfort him. Sheldon said goodbye and left her by herself. She breathed a large sigh of relief. She unlocked the door and walked in her office. She looked at the amount of equipment in her office and knew she'd need help getting it to her car. She got her phone and dialled.

"Hello Mr. Cumberbatch." She said. "Yes, I need help again."

#

Amy knocked on the door of Dave's office and Dave opened the door. Sheldon was also in the office and was looking at the machine he needed to construct the parallel universe generator. It was the exact same machine that was in Penny's office. Sheldon knew this meant that Dave and Penny were most likely the best experimental physicists at their respective universities. Amy had a trolley with some stacked boxes and other assorted items. A man was standing next to her but Sheldon couldn't see who it was from where he was standing in the room.

"Hello Amy." Dave greeted.

"Hey Dave." She greeted. She turned to the person who was standing next to her and gave him a tip. "Thank you Mr. Downey for helping me take this from my car."

"Robert is very helpful to the people in the physics department." Dave told her.

Sheldon's attention was reverted when he heard these names.

"I like to help all the science departments." A familiar voice explained. "I'll see you later Dave."

Sheldon rushed to the door. He looked down the hallway to see the person who was walking and it was who he thought it was. Robert Downey Jnr. He was less built then in his universe, probably because he didn't train for action movies, but he still looked similar.

"Wait!" Sheldon began to say before Amy interrupted.

"Sheldon!" She said. "It doesn't matter if he is someone like the president in your universe or an Oscar winner or some superhero. We can't have you going after him and causing an unnecessary commotion."

"But it is Robert Downey Jnr!" Sheldon exclaimed.

Amy shrugged like it meant nothing. "And I'm Amy Farrah Fowler." She said sarcastically. "Anyways, let's discuss our plans."

Sheldon sighed as he stepped back into Dave's office. Amy wheeled the trolley in and closed the door. "I will take you home so you can sleep. When I get off work at 5pm I will come home and take you here. We will all have dinner and then after that you will continue to make your parallel universe machine." Amy explained and Dave and Sheldon nodded. "Someone will come around to check the labs at night and they will have a list of people who have applied to work at night. Dave will have to be awake for that but afterwards we will find a place to sleep in this lab."

"What if me constructing wakes you up?" Sheldon asked.

"We just have to live with it." Amy said. "I've slept in the same room as very loud primates so I think I can handle it. At 7 I will wake up and make sure you have breakfast. I will take you back to our house for sleep and then go to work as usual. No trying to work whilst you are meant to be sleeping, Sheldon!" she stared at him intently and he nodded. "Then I will you pick you up at the end of my work day and take you back here. This cycle will continue until you've returned home."

"That sounds good." Sheldon agreed with her plan.

Amy looked down to her wrist and took of a bracelet she was wearing. Sheldon didn't recognise it which meant it wasn't her penicillin bracelet. She handed it to him.

"What am I meant to do with this?" Sheldon asked.

"Wear it." She said. "If I see you wearing this I'll know it is you are not the other Sheldon."

Sheldon looked down. The bracelet was gold with 'Amy' spelt out in golden letters. Sheldon sighed and put it on. He was against wearing jewellery for no reason but Amy's reasoning behind it made sense.

Amy reached in the trolley and bought out two rolled up sleeping bags and two pillows. "I stopped at home on the way here and got some sleeping materials for Dave and I. Now Sheldon, I will take you home so you can sleep."

"Fine!" Sheldon exclaimed. He followed Amy out of his office and turned down the hallway.

"The car park is this way." Amy pointed in the opposite direction to where Sheldon was walking.

Sheldon turned around and gave an annoyed look. "I just wanted to meet Robert Downey Jnr! He was walking that way!" Amy gave a glare and Sheldon followed.

The two walked out of the building and to Amy's car.

#

"I didn't know that financial work could get so…" Penny thought for a second. "… weird." She and Leonard were walking out of the office a Chemistry professor.

"The eccentricity of scientists makes my work interesting sometimes." Leonard justified.

"Interesting?" Penny questioned. "You'd classify someone saying a gorilla costume is a work expense as only interesting?"

Leonard shrugged. "Yes."

"The gorilla costume had a bikini on it Leonard!" Penny couldn't help giggle. "That is beyond interesting."

"Dr. Wheaten has always had a weird… um…" Leonard couldn't think of it. "…Life outside of work. He also likes to get out of paying for stuff."

Penny laughed again. She was happy she came along with Leonard. It made her forget about her problems with Sheldon. And made them both forget about the almost kiss they'd had in her lab. The two were walking as they talked although they hadn't discussed where they were headed next.

"Where do you have to go next?" Penny asked.

Leonard looked down at his list of people he needed to do financial work for. "Dr. Lorvis." He said. "He does Medical Chemistry."

"I know him." Penny said. "I gave him a handshake once. He began saying state names."

"I've never had him say that to me…" Leonard continued the conversation but then stopped when he saw Sheldon walking towards them. Based on where he came from, he probably came from the biology department.

"Hello Penny." He greeted completely ignoring Leonard. "I've just come from Dr. Fowler's office to see if she could jog my memory. She explained to me that I'd been working with her but I can't recall this."

"So do you believe you have a memory gap?" Penny asked. "Like I said in the car."

Sheldon stuttered. "I guess you are right…"

"You need to see a psychologist or something to try and get it back." Leonard suggested. Sheldon gave him a glare.

"You are joking, right?" Sheldon asked. "I would never! I am not a hippy!"

Penny shrugged. "I am not the one with a memory problem. If you don't take his advice, I don't care."

Sheldon looked offended. "You should care! You are my girlfriend!"

Penny sighed. She was going through a confusing time with her romantic life. She didn't intend to make a rushed decision whilst standing in a hallway. She was thinking of taking a break from him but she hadn't fully made up her mind.

"We need to go to Dr. Lorvis' office." Leonard interrupted. "We have to leave."

"I'm trying to find me." Sheldon explained. "I think one of the people in the car with me looked like Dr. Fowler."

Penny shook her head. "Please Sheldon! You need to leave us alone and rest your mind! You are thinking odd things and need to stop!"

Sheldon looked offended. "You've always loved my quirks."

Penny knew this was true up until the last few days. Now she found them annoying.

"Let's go Leonard." Penny walked past Sheldon before the conversation could continue and continued to walk down the hallway. Leonard followed.

#

Amy drove Sheldon to her house where she bought him inside.

"Remember to get some sleep." Amy said. "Don't wonder around the house or try to do math. You can do math tonight when you need to be fully awake."

Sheldon nodded. "Okay."

"I had an encounter with your universe's counterpart when I went back to collect your materials." Amy told him.

"What was he like?" Sheldon asked.

"He was like you but a little more socially adept." She explained "He called me a 'brain monkey'."

"That does sound like something I would say." Sheldon nodded.

"Him being here is the first proof I've seen that you are telling the truth." She said. "Up until now I've just been trusting you."

"Maybe if he were here earlier I wouldn't have had to spend as much time convincing you." Sheldon joked.

"It gave me time to get to know you better." Amy justified.

"I know there is a lot of challenges that comes with him turning up." Sheldon said. "But I am happy that he didn't end up in my universe. No more visions of him chasing after Penny and making my Amy upset."

"That must be a relief." Amy commented and looked at her phone to see the time. "I have to go back to work. Go to your room and get in bed."

Sheldon did as instructed and crawled into bed. "I'll see you when I get home." She said and she was about to leave until Sheldon stopped her.

"I'm worried trying to sleep now won't work because it is too close to when I last slept." He explained. "Can you help me?"

"Do you need insomnia medication or something?" Amy asked. Sheldon shook his head no.

"Can you sing me Soft Kitty?" he asked.

Amy saw a chair near the bed and sat on it. "I don't know that song."

"My mother used to sing it to me when I was sick." He explained. "It always made me feel relaxed and fall asleep. I can teach it to you."

"Okay." She said.

Sheldon began to sing the song. "Soft kitty, Warm kitty, Little ball of fur. Happy kitty, Sleepy kitty, Purr purr purr."

Amy nodded. "I think I know the lyrics." She cleared her throat and began to sing. "Soft kitty, Warm kitty, Little ball of fur. Umm…." She stuttered as she tried to remember the lyrics.

"Happy kitty, Sleepy kitty, Purr purr purr." Sheldon reminded.

"Oh. Yes, I remember now." She said and then continued to sing. "Happy kitty, sleppy.."

"No!" Sheldon interrupted. "From the top! It won't work otherwise!"

Amy giggled. "Okay Dr. Genius." She mocked. She began to sing the song again.

"Soft kitty, Warm Kitty, Little ball of fur…" she saw Sheldon's eyes close. ".. Happy kitty, Sleepy kitty, Purr purr purr."

When she finished Sheldon began to breathe in and out rhythmically which meant he was asleep. Amy noticed how peaceful Sheldon was at that moment. He wasn't stressing or worrying or trying to figure out a way to get home. He instead was sleeping with no worries. It made sense to her why a simple sweet song would help a man with a mind like that to fall asleep.

She stood up and walked towards the bedroom's door. "Sweet dreams Sheldon." She whispered and closed the door. She locked the house and drove back to her work.

 **Thanks for reading. I know some of this might seem like filler but I assure you that in two chapters or so things will really get interesting. And I thought Soft Kitty would be adorable. Because of my university schedule I will probably be updating about once every week from now on and I hope that doesn't disappoint you. Thank you everyone that reviewed. If you wish to leave feedback please review, favourite and/or follow. Thank you all again.**

 **Clint Cooper.**


	16. Chapter 16

Sheldon didn't think he'd ever be a dance instructor but here he was, standing in front of a large line of numbers with arms and legs. Their elbows were linked and performing a dance which looked like it had a Greek origin. The music they were dancing to was not Greek though. It was Amy's vocals singing Soft Kitty.

"Come on! Move those feet!" he shouted at the numbers "I need to win the Nobel Dance Prize and this is the only way!"

Sheldon began to walk down the line and inspect each number. He began with one, whose arm was linked with two. He then went to two, who was linked with three and so on. Sheldon made criticisms every now and then as he inspected each number's dancing. The last number in the line was 44 who impressed Sheldon with her timing and coordination.

"Stop!" Sheldon commanded. The numbers all stopped dancing and Sheldon could hear tired breaths. Sheldon noticed for the first time that the numbers had facial features. "Where are numbers 45 to infinity?" he asked. "Why have they skipped dance training?"

"We don't need them." 44 spoke up in Amy's voice. "They were just bringing us down. I told them to go away."

"I did not authorise you to do this!" Sheldon exclaimed.

"You didn't have to. I am the most important person in the room." 44 responded.

Knock. Knock. Knock. "Sheldon"

Sheldon was about to argue back but there was a familiar voice knocking at the dance studio's door.

"We will continue discussion later!" Sheldon told 44 and walked over to the door.

Knock. Knock. Knock. "Sheldon."

The voice on the other side of the door sounded like himself. How was this possible?

"Is anyone in there?" the familiar voice on the other side of the door asked

Knock. Knock. Knock. "Anyone"

Knock. Knock. Knock. "Anyone."

The knocking continued.

Knock. Knock. Knock. "Anyone"

#

Knock. Knock. Knock. "Anyone" Sheldon heard as he woke up. Someone was knocking at the door and this must have affected his very weird dream about the number dance troupe. The sixth knock had woken him up. He was still lying down in a room in Amy's house. He looked over at a clock and saw it was 3 o'clock. Amy had made him fall asleep at about 12 which meant he'd been asleep for three hours.

Knock. Knock. Knock. "Someone."

Knock. Knock. Knock. "Someone."

The voice was no different to the one in the dream. It still sounded like his own voice.

"I don't think anyone is home!" He heard another voice say. It did not sound familiar. Sheldon was curious so he walked out of his bedroom slowly. The curtains were closed so he couldn't see outside and if he moved the curtains the person outside would see him. He could however faintly see dark black text with 'Taxi' on it. If this was the AU Sheldon, he must've braved his germphobia to get here.

He decided to call Amy. She'd know what to do. He no longer had the mobile phone he took from 'the other Sheldon' but luckily there was a phone at Amy's house. He dialled Amy's mobile number.

"Hello." He heard Amy's voice on the other.

"Hello, it is Sheldon Cooper. The one with the golden bracelet with your name on it" He told her.

"You are meant to be sleeping." Amy reminded.

"I was sleeping." Sheldon told her. "I was having a dream about dancing numbers when someone knocking at the door woke me up."

"Did you open it?" Amy asked.

"No." Sheldon told her. "I didn't want to risk anything. The voice sounded like me."

"Good." Amy told him. "If someone knocks on the door don't open it."

Sheldon heard a car start outside Amy's house and heard it reverse out of the driveway. The engine roared as the car accelerated and drove away from the house.

"I think the visitor just drove away." Sheldon told Amy.

"Oh, hello." He heard Amy say in the other end.

"Hello?" Sheldon asked. "I don't understand the social convention of greeting someone in the middle of the conversation…"

"Oh, it is Dr. Vartabedian." He heard her say. "I can say goodbye."

Sheldon felt confused. "Are you talking to someone else?"

"I have someone in my office Dr. Vartabedian. I've got to go. Goodbye." She said. "And get some sleep." She added before hanging up.

Sheldon didn't know what to do next so he just decided to go back to sleep. He needed to sleep so he could work all night on the generator.

#

Penny and Leonard had just finished the financial work in Dr. Lorvis. She was carrying a bouquet of flowers as they walked out.

"He was nice." Leonard noted, looking at the flowers. "I believe he wanted to give those to one of the woman in the cafeteria because he found an extra piece of cheese on his hamburger but then you shook his hand for two North Dakotas."

"I don't know what I'm going to do with these." She looked down. "Do you think I should give these to Sheldon."

Leonard shrugged. "Do you think he deserves flowers?"

"Not right now." She said honestly. "Maybe it could soften the blow when I decide to take a break."

Penny's phone began to buzz and she checked it, to see a text message from AU Sheldon.

 _I'm going to Dr. Fowler's house to see if I can find Sheldon – Sheldon_

"What is it?" Leonard asked.

"Sheldon is trying to find himself." Penny told him.

"That is kind of mushy." Leonard said.

"Not in a philosophical way." Penny explained. "As in he is going to Amy's house to see if he can find himself because he saw himself earlier in Amy's car."

"We should talk to Amy." Leonard suggested. "She can help us understand more about this."

Penny nodded. "Okay."

The two walked to Amy's office and saw that the door was open. Amy was on the phone talking to someone.

"If someone knocks on the door don't open it." They heard her say. She looked up to see Penny and Leonard at the door. "Oh, hello."

"Hello Amy Farrah Fowler." Penny greeted. "Who are you talking to?"

"Oh, it is Dr. Vartabedian." She told her. "I can say goodbye."

Penny shook her head. "No, we can wait."

"I have someone in my office Dr Vartabedian." Amy said into the phone. "I've got to go. Goodbye. And get some sleep." She hung up the phone after saying this. "No, I can talk." She told them.

"We are here to talk about Sheldon." Penny told her. "He has gone to your house to find himself."

"How sweet." Amy said.

"Not in a philosophical way." Leonard explained. "As in he thought he saw himself and is trying to find him."

"Why would he go to your house?" Penny asked.

Amy didn't want to tell the truth. "I don't know. The hospital trip last night has made him go crazy."

"Are you sure?" Penny asked. "He seemed to think you were in the car when he saw himself."

Amy shrugged. "I don't know what you are talking about." She told her.

"Then he has lost his mind!" Penny exclaimed.

"Probably." Amy responded. Penny gave her an odd look at the quick agreement with this.

"I don't know if I can handle him anymore." Penny said.

"It happens to theoretical physicist all the time." Leonard added. "One day they just snap. I had one strip naked in front of me to give his junk a rating out of ten…"

Both Penny and Amy looked at Leonard awkwardly and he stopped telling that story.

"Is there anything else you need?" Amy asked. "I have to go back to work and I need to concentrate so I can remove the locus coeruleus."

"No." Penny shook her head.

Amy looked down at Penny's hand and saw she was carrying a bouquet of flowers. She glanced back and forth between Leonard and gave a suspicious look. "Why are you carrying flowers?"

Penny looked down and noticed she was still holding them. "Oh." She said "Dr. Lorvis gave them to me."

"Did he do the North Dakota thing?" Amy asked.

"Yeah." Penny couldn't help but laugh. "Do you want them? Maybe give them to your husband?"

Amy shrugged. "Sure."

Penny smiled and put them on a bench in Amy's office. Penny and Leonard said goodbye to Amy and left her office.

"What should we do now?" Leonard asked Penny.

"Nothing." She told him. "I think there is nothing we can do about Sheldon anymore."

#

Without someone to sing him Soft Kitty it took about 45 minutes for Sheldon to get to sleep again. This meant he slept for almost 2 hours before he was woken up again by the jingling of keys and someone unlocking the door. Sheldon stood up and looked outside the room's door hoping to not see himself. He instead saw Amy entering her own house and breathed a sigh of relief. The two greeted each other. Sheldon immediately followed Amy out of the house and into her car, after she locked the house back up. She began to drive to Dave's university. Sheldon saw a bouquet of flowers in the backseat. He looked at Amy and raised his eyebrow, as if to ask a question.

"They're from Penny." She explained. "I'm going to give them to Dave."

"Oh." Sheldon looked down. He didn't seem interested in them anymore.

"What do you want for dinner?" Amy asked. "I'm going to buy some on the way there."

Sheldon shrugged. "I don't mind."

Amy raised her eyebrow. "You really don't mind? What happened to the Sheldon Cooper you told me about that planned every meal for every day?"

"This … adventure I guess … has forced me to change this attitude unfortunately." Sheldon explained.

"How so?" Amy asked curiously. As a neuroscientist she was curious about the effects of travelling between universes on the brain.

"As you said back in my universe I cared about order and whether things happened according to my plan." Sheldon said. "This entire travel to this universe has played with that. I've been unable to follow my schedule because I've been desperate to return home. To be honest I'd not thought about my schedule for days until you just bought it up."

"Curious." Amy said. "How does that make you feel?"

"I'm disappointed with myself. I also feel uncomfortable and am now blaming this ignoring of my plan as why so much has gone wrong." Sheldon said. He remembered not getting a haircut caused him to have similar thoughts except nothing went wrong that time, except tripping down the stairs whilst playing the bongos.

"Well, I intend to make you comfortable." Amy said. "Today is Tuesday. What would you be getting for dinner at home on a Tuesday?"

"Tuesday night is Cheesecake Factory night. I eat a barbecue bacon cheeseburger with barbecue, bacon and cheese on the side" Sheldon told her. "Penny is the typical waitress but I know that isn't possible here."

"I'll get that for you then!" Amy said with excitement. "I believe they do take-away. And I mean the burger and not Penny…"

"Okay." Sheldon said and glanced downwards. Amy could tell something was wrong. She regretted mentioning anything about Sheldon's schedule. Clearly realising that he hadn't been following his schedule had upset him.

"I'm sure you'll cheer up once you eat that burger!" she tried to cheer him up. He gave a fake smile.

"I talked to Penny and Leonard." She changed the topic because she saw how Sheldon wasn't responded to her cheering up techniques. "Apparently the 'other Sheldon' did see you in that car. He was the person who came to my house…" she looked over to Sheldon who wiped something from his eye. "Are you crying?"

He shook his head. "No."

"You were crying weren't you?" she asked. "Don't lie to me!"

"I was crying because I am sad." He told her.

"I guessed that." Amy said.

"I don't need to give any more explanation!" Sheldon demanded. Amy was about to disagree but saw Sheldon give a look that reminded her of a pleading koala. She gave in and didn't say anything else.

The car drove in silence for the rest of the trip to The Cheesecake Factory. Every now and then Amy would glance over to Sheldon and she would see him wipe a tear from his face. Amy could tell he was embarrassed to be feeling emotions like this in front of her as he had turned towards the window to hide his face. She was friends with him and had a really close connection with him. This that meant she would miss him when he left. But time like this made her hope that he would make it home. Safely.

 **I know I said a week and it has been a week and a half but I found Friday an inconvenient day to upload given my college schedule. Tuesday or Wednesday would be better. Thanks for reading! I know this is filler but I've prepared the next chapter for next week and it is not filler. It has a lot of important events that will shape the story as it goes towards its ending. I think this story will be about 25 chapters but that might still change. The weird dream sequence will return and has a reason and I felt exploring Sheldon's OCD tendencies being tampered with was interesting. If you'd like to leave feedback please review, favourite and follow. Thank you everyone who has review so far! Makes me really happy.**

 **Thanks Again**

 **Clint Cooper.**


	17. Chapter 17

Amy, Dave and Sheldon sat around a clean bench in Dave's lab and ate their meal from the Cheesecake Factory. Amy got her and Dave the same as Sheldon: A barbecue bacon cheeseburger with barbecue, bacon and cheese on the side.

"This isn't as good as it is at home." Sheldon complained.

"Well I like it very much." Amy said.

Dave turned and looked at the flowers that Amy had given him. "Oh look! A card!" he said and took it from the flowers.

Amy gulped. She didn't notice that the flowers had a card. He opened the envelope and when he opened the card a couple of pieces of paper fell out. Dave looked at one and instantly cringed.

"What is it Dave?" Amy asked.

"Well there is a man in this picture." He tried to explain. "And the image is unnecessarily graphic." Amy leant over to look and when she did, shuddered as well.

"That is Dr. Lorvis, the man is the person that Penny got the flowers for me. Just throw the pictures away." She said and cringed. Throughout this entire interaction Sheldon was confused.

"I don't understand what you and Dave mean by 'unnecessarily graphic' but given your reactions I don't want to know." he said before taking one last bite of his burger. After he chewed and swallowed he stood up and washed his hands. "It is time for me begin to work."

Sheldon walked to the machine he needed to finish his parallel universe generator and began to warm it up. He turned to see Dave and Amy still eating their dinner. He thought of how he would miss the two of them when he left. He loved 'his Amy' and desperately wanted to return. But that didn't mean he would just to ignore the fact that he'd made two friends whilst in this universe.

#

"Today was nice Leonard." Penny said with a smile. "Helping with your financial work really helped me get my mind off my problems."

"It was nothing." Leonard said. Penny noticed a small amount of red appear in his cheeks. Was he blushing? Was she blushing too?

"I have to go to Sheldon's office to take him home. I said I would take him home at 5pm and it is already after that." She explained. "He is going to be angry that I am not on schedule."

The two of them walked to AU Sheldon's office where they saw him typing frantically on his computer.

"Hello Sheldon." Penny greeted. "It is time to go home and rest like you promised."

"I'm investigating something important here Penny!" Sheldon told her without looking up from the computer.

"You promised you would come home with me!" Penny reminded.

Sheldon nodded as he closed his laptop. "You are correct. It'd be hypocritical of me to not follow plans. But then again you did come to my office later then 5pm." He gave her a glare and she looked down in embarrassment. Sheldon packed up his working area and grabbed his laptop and briefcase to take home. He walked out of the office when he was done. "Will Leonard be joining us home?"

"I'm going to drive back to my apartment…" he told Sheldon. "But I will be walking you to the car park…"

"Well that is a relief" he interrupted. "I don't have to endure how bad your cologne smells all night." Sheldon locked the door of his office and began to walk hastily towards the building's exit. Penny and Leonard followed a few steps behind him.

"I'm going to do it." She whispered to Leonard. "Tonight I'm going to ask him for a break." After determining that there was nothing she could do about Sheldon, she'd decided it was time to look at her life without him.

"Are you ready to do it?" Leonard asked.

She nodded and almost stuttered her words. "Yes. It will be the for the best."

"Will you two please walk faster!" Sheldon demanded ahead of them. "I have several ideas I need to contemplate tonight!"

"Like what?" Leonard asked curiously.

"You wouldn't understand. Physics." He explained.

"Tell me then. I'll understand." Penny told him.

"You wouldn't understand. Theoretical physics." He re-iterated.

"Just tell me." Penny requested. Being talked down to was something she was getting annoyed by with Sheldon.

"Well there has been a disturbance in the force. I've done some research on Google and have discovered some interesting results from several scientists who say their results skewed oddly when performed at about 3pm on Wednesday." He explained.

"How do you mean?" Leonard asked.

"As in, the results of their experiments were wildly inaccurate at 3pm on Wednesday. As if something happened to disturb the world." He said.

"It is probably just a coincidence." Leonard suggested.

"I highly doubt that." He shook his head and laughed at Leonard's comment. "Here is my theory: I think someone may have travelled in time. I think that someone was/is me. I came here from the future. Somehow the method in which I did so caused the inaccurate results of the science experiments."

"You really think that?" Penny asked in surprise at his time travel theory. The three had made it to her car.

"It is just a hypothesis." He said. "But it would explain why I saw me and why I think I was missing when you think I wasn't."

Penny sighed that Sheldon was still rambling about that. "Get in the car." She ordered. Leonard said goodbye and walked away to his car. Penny and Sheldon drove off and headed towards her apartment.

"You know my hypothesis is what happened to you when you were missing skewed your perception of time. Pain does that to people." She said.

"Well I'm going to try and prove you wrong and me correct." He gave a really big smile as if doing so was the best thing in the world.

"Great." Penny rolled her eyes. She saw that Sheldon's mind had been altered somehow and he needed to be take care of. Would taking a break from him now would be selfish? She shook her head. She needed to think about her well-being and happiness for once and taking a break would be good for her. And given Sheldon's distracted attitude at that time, maybe he wouldn't be phased by it either.

#

Penny saw AU Sheldon smiling happily as his eyes watched the television screen. He was watching The Flash starring Eddie Krispo as Barry Allen.

"Sheldon." She interrupted as she sat next to him on the couch. "I need to talk to you about something."

"What?" he said half-heartedly whilst still watching. Penny grabbed the remote and paused the show. "I was watching that!" he complained loudly.

"What I want to talk to you about is important." Penny insisted.

"More important than The Flash?" he questioned. "That seems unlikely."

Penny glared at him. "Thanks for telling that. It makes what I am going to say a lot easier."

"Don't tell me you stood too close to the mirror…"

"I need to take a break!" she blurted out.

"You mean a vacation?" he questioned. "You know I detest that."

"I mean a break from this relationship." She added.

"What?" Sheldon suddenly looked upset. "Why? Did I do something wrong?"

Penny shrugged. "I don't know. It may have just been me changing because I've been getting really annoyed with you when before I wasn't."

"Are you saying 'It is you and not me'?" Sheldon questioned. "Even I know that is lame."

Penny stood up in frustration. "I'm sorry but I need time to look at myself outside the relationship and see whether I should continue."

"Oh. Has this got to do with Leonard? Has he been putting ideas in your head?" he asked. "I knew he was trouble when he walked in."

"He did offer this as advice but I chose to do it on my own!" Penny said "Now I'm going to pack a bag. Althea from administration said I could stay with her."

"How am I going to get to work?" he asked. Penny didn't think of that. Sheldon couldn't drive.

"I'll still drive you to work. But that is all we interact okay?" Penny said.

"But what if I need someone to drive me somewhere…"

"I'm sorry, but unless it is a necessity I cannot help you." Penny told him. She walked into their bedroom and put some clothes, toiletries and all her technological devices into a bag. She walked out of her room and Sheldon was looking at her with a confused look.

"Can you at least explain how I've been annoying you?" Sheldon asked.

"Firstly whenever I suggest something you rebut it instantly instead of listening and considering it as an option. And You've been spending all your time on your Parallel universe thing with Amy and ignoring me. And you don't ask a woman if her anger is because she is menstruating…."

"Wait." Sheldon interrupted. "What did you just say?"

"A woman can be angry without being on her period." Penny clarified.

"No. The one before."

"Working with Amy and her husband." She said. "On your paper on parallel universes and not spending time with me…"

"That is it!" Sheldon stood up and quickly went over to his computer. He reminded Penny of an excited child playing Digimon Go."It is not time travel! The Sheldon I saw is from a parallel universe! And Dr. Fowler might be too! They are colluding together! That is why he was in her vehicle!"

Penny shook her head in shock. Sheldon didn't look disappointed anymore to be on a break but was now focused on Amy again. She shook her head. "Goodbye." She said and walked out of the apartment. She hoped Althea would make her a hot beverage when she got there because she felt sad at that moment.

#

Sheldon woke up to someone slightly touching him on the shoulder. He instantly jumped up but breathed a sigh of relief when he saw it was just Amy.

"You were asleep." She said. She saw he was still wearing her bracelet, which meant it was the Sheldon who didn't come from this universe. "You are meant to be working."

"I was working." Sheldon explained. He turned to the parallel universe generator. "Look."

Amy's eyes widened. "Is that done?" she asked with excitement. He shook his head no and Amy gave him a confused look. "Why? It looks exactly like your design for the finished product…"

"Well the machine is built. But… But…" he stuttered.

"Does it work?" Amy asked.

"I haven't tested it yet." He told her. "I fell asleep instead."

"Why haven't you tested it yet?" Amy asked.

"The last time I tested it, I ended up in a strange parallel universe. I am not letting that happen again." Sheldon said. "The next one could be worse. You might not even exist."

She knew exactly what he meant. Finding how to get home had been the elephant in the room when constructing the machine but they'd ignored it, hoping they'd think of something. But here they were with nothing.

"What is all the racket?" Dave had stood up from the sleeping bags and pillows that Amy had set up for her and Dave. Sheldon explained to him how he'd finished the machine but had no idea how to return home. "You'll figure it out. You are Sheldon Cooper after all."

"Thanks Dave. That does actually make me feel better." Sheldon smiled. He loved Dave's unconditional admiration for him. Sheldon wondered if he was like this back in his universe.

"We should get breakfast and get you back to my house for sleep." She suggested. "Maybe some food and sleep in an actual bed will give you an idea."

"Unless it is how to train numbers to dance, I don't think that will help." Sheldon said remembering his weird dream from the day before. Sheldon had thought about his odd dream but all he could see was his subconscious being turned insane by being in a different universe. Dave gave a confused look at this dream comment.

"And what if 'other Sheldon' is sneaking around there again?" Sheldon asked.

"And what if he snoops around here in the middle of the night?" Amy asked rhetorically. "He could be anywhere. If he does appear, we'll just deal with it."

"I prefer to be more prepared…"

"I'm going to the cafeteria to get some bacon and eggs for you." Amy smiled. "And stop worrying so much." She gave him a tight hug and then walked out of the lab. Dave didn't see this because he was inspecting the generator.

"Don't touch it." Sheldon demanded. "I don't need you travelling to my universe and canoodling with my Amy."

Dave put his hands up. "Don't worry. I won't touch it."

Sheldon began to think of a way to get home but no plans. He'd built the machine but had no idea how to use it.

 **Thanks for reading! Some big things happened in this chapter! AU Sheldon and Penny are on a break and Sheldon has finished the machine. Now he just needs to find a way to return to the correct one. How will he do this?**

 **Thank you everyone who reviewed. If you wish to leave feedback please review, favourite or/and follow. Thank you all again.**

 **Clint Cooper.**


	18. Chapter 18

AU Sheldon was waiting in his apartment for Penny to take him to work. Last night she told him of the break and it only hit him as he slept alone what had actually occurred. He cursed him internally as he tried to fall asleep for concentrating on his theories instead of Penny.

 _I'm here. Come downstairs.- Penny_

Sheldon smiled at the text, grabbed his work items and walked down the familiar staircase. When he walked out the building he could not see Penny's car.

 _I'm in the dark blue car – Penny_

Sheldon saw a blue car parked outside the building and walked quickly up to it. He looked inside and saw Leonard at the wheel and that Penny wasn't in the car. Sheldon turned and walked back towards the building.

"Wait!" Leonard shouted. Leonard walked out of the car and followed Sheldon.

"I am not being driven by a finance heartbreaker!" Sheldon exclaimed.

"Penny is on a break! She requested I drive you during this time!" Leonard told him.

"No Leonard." He said. "You know I disdain you."

"How are you going to get to work?" Leonard asked.

"I'll take the bus." Sheldon rebutted.

"Really? The germy bus where some sick person probably sat." Leonard told him. Sheldon's face began to twitch. Leonard knew germs would persuade him.

"Okay then!" Sheldon said. "But I am not happy!" Sheldon reluctantly walked up to the car and sat in the passenger seat. Leonard got in and then began to drive.

"I thought we could use this driving time to help rekindle our friendship…"

"Why would I want to do that?" Sheldon asked. "You tormented me and my girlfriend for years."

Leonard sighed. "I was angry. All that time pushing you two away was a waste."

"No." Sheldon still refused

"What would your mum say about forgiveness?" Leonard asked.

"To forgive everyone." He said. "But then again. God didn't forgive the sinners before Noah's Ark. In fact, God was quite the smiteful person in the Old Testament…"

"I'm not here to argue Bible with you." Leonard said, regretting bringing that up. "I have an idea! Why don't we play one of those car games you used to love?"

"The quiet game?" Sheldon suggested. "Penny told me you only did that to shut me up."

"No." he shook his head. "What about a brain teaser?"

Sheldon shrugged. "Okay." He tried to think of one that would stump him. "What is a seven letter word that can contain more than seven letters?"

Leonard thought. He tried to think of an answer. "I'm not sure."

"Ha! I thought as much!"

"Wait! I've heard this one before!" Leonard remembered. "The answer is a mailbox!"

Sheldon frowned. "Well luckily I chose an easy one." He lied.

Leonard rolled his eyes. "Let's see what is on the radio."

"No!" Sheldon said. "I hate the radio!"

"Well I'm driving. My car, my rules." Leonard justified. He turned on the radio and the news was on.

" _Bernadette Rostenkowski's harsh fall has worried many of her fans but her manager has assured us she will be okay and will make a full recovery. She should be training soon for the Olympics once again."_

"Howard has a huge crush on that ice skater." Leonard told Sheldon. "He posted about her Facebook. Made Raj really jealous…"

"I don't care about Howard's odd obsessions." Sheldon interrupted. Leonard sighed.

 _Now we have Experimental Physicist Dr. Stephanie Barnett from Cambridge University to talk a breaking science story._

" _Good morning Dr. Barnett." the presenter greeted._

" _Good morning." She said back._

"She sounds nice." Leonard noted. Sheldon gave a look of derision.

" _Can you please explain to the audience what has happening to cause such a frenzy in the world of science?"_

" _Yes." She said. "I am currently visiting Caltech as a visiting professor and also to work with Dr. Zach Johnson who unfortunately has been unwell and was unable to join me here today. Last Wednesday at 3 o'clock pm I was performing an experiment, which for privacy purposes I can't explain, but the results obtained were off the charts. A lot different to what was predicted."_

" _Is that common?" the presenter asked._

" _Odd results could mean something was wrong with test equipment or methodology. I checked the equipment and materials and my method and Dr. Johnson checked it too and it all looked fine. I repeated the experiment four times and got the same odd results. I thought that I'd discovered something. I decided to try once more and the results were no longer odd and were exactly as expected beforehand. The anomaly had disappeared. I then assumed it was equipment after all."_

Leonard looked over and saw Sheldon was listening to this conversation very intently. He smiled at this.

" _But I was talking to several other professors from around the world online who had similar anomalies in results that suddenly disappeared after several trials. I asked the time these anomalies occurred and it was whatever 3 o'clock here is in their time zones." She explained. "It had been observed so many times that we refuse to believe it is a coincidence."_

"What did I say Leonard?" Sheldon asked, referencing their previous day conversation. "Not just a coincidence!"

" _What are you going to do now?" the presenter questioned._

" _Try and replicate. Collaborate our results from these experiments and find similarities. We as scientists and physicists, just have to try and find out why." Stephanie said. "Of course if there is anyone listening who has a theory or any evidence please tell us about it."_

"Like I would ever give my theories away!" Sheldon exclaimed as if he were offended.

Stephanie and Presenter talked for a bit more before her interview was over and the radio began reporting something about Stuart Bloom being in a love triangle with Taylor Swift and Kanye West. Leonard turned the radio off.

"Is that what you were talking about yesterday?" Leonard asked. "You think that the anomalies were because you time travelled from the future?"

"I thought that but not anymore." He said. "I have a different theory."

"What?" Leonard asked.

"That at Wednesday at 3 o'clock someone travelled here from a parallel universe." He said.

"Oh right!" Leonard stated. "I was told you were working on a paper on parallel universes!"

"But I don't remember that! There is no evidence of that on my laptop or phone!" Sheldon said. "But I saw myself! I think another me has travelled here from another universe. And so has Dr. Fowler and her husband, which is why I was with them for the past week. When I returned they hid him and erased any evidence of parallel universes…"

"I told you Sheldon. You were probably seeing things." Leonard told him.

"Well I don't believe it!" he said. "I'm going to investigate this! I'm going to find Dr. Fowler and her husband and make them talk!"

"Bad idea, Sheldon." Leonard said. He looked with concern at Sheldon. Was this something Leonard could take seriously? Was he acting crazy because of how he'd been beaten and drugged? Or was he acting that way because Penny took a break? Or was he just crazy? Leonard counted to ponder that as they drove the rest of the way to Caltech.

#

Amy had eaten breakfast with Sheldon and Dave and then driven Sheldon home to sleep. She had sung him Soft Kitty again and found it adorable how it made him fall asleep instantly. She was glad that Sheldon had finished constructing his machine but knew there was the challenge of how to get home. Stepping into the wormhole generator could take him to another crazy universe and he'd have to do this all over again. She was now back at Caltech, in her lab, and she was continuing her brain study. She heard a knock and saw a silhouette of Sheldon at the door. This time there were no generators or physics equipment in her office so she shouted. "Come in!"

Sheldon opened the door and saw that she was cutting up a brain. Amy looked at his wrist and saw he wasn't wearing a bracelet which meant it was this universe's Sheldon. "Hello Dr. Cooper." She greeted.

"Hello Dr. Fowler." He said back. "I'd like to discuss more about our work together."

"Well I'm busy at the moment with my brain study." She said gesturing to some brains she had on her laboratory bench.

"So when do we start work again?" he asked. "Or did we ever work together in the first place?"

"Of course we did Dr. Cooper." She said. "I was just given a big project by the university and we've had to postpone our work…"

"Lies!" he exclaimed.

"How are those lies?" she asked.

"Because they probably are." He said, "I have no actual proof, of course, except for what I saw with my own eyes. As in me in your car."

"I don't know what you are talking about." Amy lied. She knew exactly how to do so without the usual mannerisms a person gives.

"Well the car in your parking space is the same as the one I saw me in." he said. "Explain that."

Amy easily thought of a simple explanation. "I read a paper on this once. Your brain, which was rattled from the hospital trip, and probably saw you in it because it was conditioned over the past days to be with me and in that car."

"Complete, excuse my language, poppycock." He scoffed.

"You can believe whatever you want." Amy said. "But I need to work."

"I guess I'll just speak to your husband. He works for that low-life university correct?" he asked. He'd done his research before visiting her

Amy knew if he went to Dave that he would see all the stuff Sheldon had built.

"My husband is also swamped with work right now." Amy made an excuse. "Why don't you go a get a psychiatric test? Heal the mind!"

"Have you seen or heard about the physics experiment anomalies?" Sheldon asked.

"What?" Amy asked confused.

"Surely, as a scientist, you would've seen something about them?" he continued to question.

"I'm sorry but I don't know what you are talking about." Amy said.

"I'm not going to explain the entire thing. Your small neuroscientist mind won't understand." He said. "But it suggests that some sort of event triggered experiment anomalies. I think you, your husband and Sheldon Cooper travelled here from a parallel universe!"

She shook her head. "I'm not from an another universe. I've lived in California my whole life."

"Just California in this universe? Or California in multiple universes?" he questioned.

"Dr. Cooper!" she raised her voice. "Could you please stop badgering me! Can't you discuss this with Penny?!"

"Penny decided to take a break from me last night." He explained. Amy noticed him look down for an instant but them immediately look up again, to avoid showing vulnerability.

"I'm sorry." She comforted.

"Why? You didn't do anything." He said "It should be Penny or Leonard, who gave her the idea, apologising."

"Well I hope you feel…"

"You diverted the topic!" he said. "You are trying to hide something!"

"No I'm trying to work." Amy told her. "Can you please leave? Maybe begin a YouTube Channel on vexillology." She said remembering the other Sheldon said something about doing that.

"That sounds like a great idea." Sheldon thought aloud. "But I won't stop investigating this. My mind is too curious!"

He turned a walked out of Amy's office. Amy immediately washed her hands and called Dave.

"What is it?" he asked.

"I think you should hide Sheldon's stuff." She told him. "You might get a visit from his doppelganger…"

#

Sheldon was having the same dream about the dancing numbers.

" _Stop!" Sheldon commanded to the troupe. The numbers all stopped dancing and Sheldon could hear tired breaths. Sheldon noticed for the first time that the numbers had facial features. "Where are numbers 45 to infinity?" he asked. "Why have they skipped dance training?"_

" _We don't need them." 44 spoke up in Amy's voice. "They were just bringing us down. I told them to go away."_

" _I did not authorise you to do this!" Sheldon exclaimed._

" _You didn't have to. I am the most important person in the room." 44 responded._

" _How so?" he asked._

" _You must be stupid, instructor." 44 spoke up. "I'm the only reason you are here."_

" _I'm here to win the Nobel Dance Prize!" Sheldon argued. "And one more snide comment and you are off the squad._

 _Knock._

" _We will continue discussion later!" Sheldon told 44 when he heard someone knock on the dance studio's door and walked over to it._

 _Knock_

Knock. Sheldon heard as he woke up. Someone was at Amy's door and he was awakened by it. He wondered why he was having the same dream about the dancing numbers. Why was 44 so snide?

"He isn't here." Someone argued. It didn't sound like Sheldon.

"Just break in!" they heard another voice say.

There was a smashing noise like glass was broken and Sheldon suddenly feared for his life. He heard footsteps start walking around Amy's house. He didn't know whether to stay hidden in the room or go out and see what was happening.

"I think he is in that room!" the voice said and footsteps approached the room he was in. Sheldon began to look around his room for a place to hide but saw nothing. There was a window which he could climb out of. When he opened it though he saw someone out there. They'd surrounded the house.

"He is in here!" a person said. Sheldon saw a man in a balaclava with a gun pointed at him. "Don't try to escape again Dr. Cooper. You won't be able to."

 **What will happen to Sheldon now he is in trouble? And what will happen now AU Sheldon is getting dangerously curious? Will they be able to get Sheldon back home?**

 **Thanks for reading! This chapter was fun to write and I hope you enjoyed it. I've been busy at college so I am continuing to upload weekly. If you wish to leave feedback please review, favourite and/or follow. Thanks again :D**

 **Clint Cooper**


	19. Chapter 19

Knock. Knock. Knock. "Dr. Fowler's Husband."

Knock. Knock. Knock. "Dr. Fowler's Husband."

Dave heard this and knew who it was. This universe's Sheldon was knocking at his laboratory door. With help from Robert Downy Jnr he'd hidden anything to do with the parallel universe generator in a different lab, in anticipation. He was actually excited to meet the Sheldon he'd been admiring for a lot of his life. He opened the door and saw him.

"Hello Sheldon, I mean, Dr. Cooper, I mean…" He greeted.

"I'm here to ask you some questions." He interrupted this stuttering.

"Okay." Dave said. "Ask away."

"Have you heard about the physics experiment anomalies?" Sheldon asked.

Dave had heard about this from some of his colleagues but because of his work with Sheldon he'd not paid attention. "Yes I have."

"Do you have anything to say about it?" Sheldon investigated.

"I only know what I've heard from others." Dave said.

"Well I think you caused it!" Sheldon said.

"Me?" Dave questioned "I am a good physicist but I wouldn't have been able to cause a worldwide phenomenon! I'm not you!"

Sheldon nodded. "True. I probably caused it. You probably just came along for the ride."

"I don't understand." Dave said whilst shaking his head.

"I think you, your wife and me travelled here from a parallel universe." Sheldon explained. "You are hiding me somewhere and I will find him!"

Dave shook his head. "That is not true."

"Do you mind if I look around?" he asked.

"I am a huge fan Dr. Cooper but I cannot permit you to rummage in my laboratory." Dave said.

"So you are hiding something." Sheldon crossed his arms and gave Dave and knowing look. Dave had nothing to hide in the office so he shrugged.

"Fine. Look around." Dave said.

Sheldon began to look around the lab, looking in obvious places such as cupboards and under benches. He found nothing. "This is not over!" Sheldon said before storming out the lab.

Dave suddenly smiled "I can't believe he actually was in here!"

#

Howard and Raj were sitting in their car with their son strapped into a safety seat in the back.

"Well wasn't Josh adorable on his first ever shopping trip!" Raj squeed whilst driving.

"Yes. He probably didn't understand much but he made up for it with cuteness." Howard added.

"What are we going to do when we go back to work?" Raj asked. It was something they needed to discuss given they would be returning soon.

"I'm thinking of taking more time off to look after him. Maybe even quit." Howard suggested.

"You would do that?" Raj asked in surprise.

"Of course. Anything for little Josh... What is that?!" He suddenly was distracted. They were driving up to a house where one of the windows smashed and someone was in a black balaclava had just closed the door of a van. The van saw the car approaching and quickly began to drive off.

"Oh my!" Raj said. "What should we do?!"

Howard took his phone out and took a picture of the van as it drove away. "I've got its number plate. It was far away when I took the picture but I kind of see it still." Raj stopped his car in front of the house.

"We should call 911!" Raj exclaimed.

"Are you we should get involved…"

"Are you going to be this nonchalant when looking after out child?" Raj asked.

"You are right! I need to be more assertive!" Howard said and dialled 911. He explained everything they saw and were forced to wait until police arrived.

#

Amy's phone rung at the worst Sheldon had returned from his trip to Dave's laboratory and found absolutely nothing, which meant Dave competently hid everything.

"Please just admit everything!" he insisted.

"I'm sorry." Amy said. "I've got to take this phone call!"

Amy opened her phone and answered. "Hello." She said.

"This is the Pasadena Police Department." The voice at the other end said. Amy suddenly felt worried.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Your house was broken in to" the voice explained. "Glass was shattered on the front window and two witnesses saw a van fleeing your house."

"Oh my gosh!" Amy said. "Is everyone okay?"

"There was no one in your house." The person said. "Should there have been?"

"Um…" Amy didn't know how to explain anything with Sheldon standing in front of her. "Can I please do something about this?"

"Yes. We are at your house now. Please come as soon as possible." They said. Amy said goodbye and hung up.

"What is it?" Sheldon asked.

"None of your business." She explained. "Now please leave. I need to go somewhere!"

Her Sheldon wasn't at her house. Where was he? Did he go out for lunch or something? She hoped it was a misunderstanding because her Sheldon going missing would be devastating.

#

"How was driving Sheldon this morning?" Penny asked Leonard. The two were sitting in the cafeteria and talking.

"He was annoyed at me. But when they started talking about his anomaly thing on the radio he quieted down." Leonard explained. "How is your break so far?"

"Pretty good." Penny said honestly. It was nice how she could open up to Leonard. "I am actually more relaxed. I haven't gotten angry at anyone. And I am not talked down to so I feel better about myself."

"There you are!" Sheldon walked up to them. "Amy is hiding something! She just went somewhere and didn't tell me where!" Leonard suddenly stood up and stood between him and Penny.

"Please. You are on a break. Penny doesn't need to be talking to you." Leonard said.

"Then who am I meant to talk to?" he asked. "Dr. Fowler left! Didn't you hear that part of my statement?"

"Maybe she left to have sex with her husband." Leonard suggested "You'd understand why she might be private about that…"

Sheldon shrugged. "I used to tell Howard and Raj and even you sometimes about my sex with Penny and I didn't mind being public."

"What?" Penny stood up from behind Leonard. "You told people about our sex life?!"

"I did." He said. "Is that wrong?"

"Yeah." Penny said like it was obvious. "You are making my decision-making during this break a lot easier Sheldon!"

"Because I'm magnificent!" Sheldon added. "You are thinking of continuing…"

"No Sheldon!" Penny walked away from the two of them in anger. Leonard rushed after her leaving Sheldon in the cafeteria.

"Penny. Keep calm." Leonard reassured.

"Thanks. I'll try." She said sarcastically.

"You don't need to be angry at Sheldon." Leonard said. "He doesn't know when he is being annoying."

"I know. If I were just his friend that'd be okay. But he is my boyfriend. At least for now. And that means respecting each other on an intimate level…" Penny said, holding in tears.

"Well if you think that way maybe you should…" Leonard paused.

"What?"

"Well…" he said. "Never mind."  
"You were going to suggest me breaking up with him?" she asked.

Leonard took a deep breath. "Yes." Leonard admitted.

"I will have to think it over. That is what this break is for anyway." She said.

"Okay. If that is how you feel." He said. "And I'll try and keep him away. Hang out with him at work!"

"You would do that?"

"Yeah. Anything for you." He said.

"Thank you Leonard." She said. She made sure she didn't lean over and kiss him for his kindness. If she were to any kissing she would after any decisions were made.

#

Amy drove to her house and saw a police vehicle there. She got out and walked up to it. She saw a male and female officer in the car who both got out to greet her. There were also two males standing nearby and Amy recognised them as two of Sheldon's friends, Howard and Raj. Howard seemed to be holding a baby and was feeding it from a bottle.

"Are you Amy Farah Fowler?" the male officer asked. Amy picked up an Australian accent.

"Yeah." She answered. She showed them her driver's license as proof.

"And this your house, right?" the female officer added. Amy nodded. "I'm officer Johansson and this is officer Hemsworth. We'd like for you to look in the house and try and find if anything was taken." Amy walked into the house and saw the only damage to the house was the smashed window. She walked into the room where Sheldon was and saw some things had been knocked over. However, Sheldon wasn't there nor did the officer say anything about someone being there. This meant trouble. She had to keep her cool so she walked out to the two officers.

"There is nothing missing." She lied to them. "They seemed to knock a few things over in one of the rooms but nothing was gone. They must've been looking for something. I don't know what."

"We'll keep investigating." The officer said. "We took some fingerprints and those two took a picture of the van's license plate." She pointed at Howard and Raj.

Amy walked up to the two of them. "Thank you for calling the police." She said

"You are Amy Farah Fowler right?" Raj asked. "I think our friend Sheldon Cooper knows you."

"Yeah." She nodded

Raj's phone buzzed and he looked at it. "Sheldon just texted me. Says the people are out to get him again."

"You told him!" Amy suddenly raised her voice. She knew that meant the 'other Sheldon' knew about this.

"Well, we thought he wanted to know given you were his friend…"

Amy shook her head in frustration. "Well don't tell him anything else. Now back to my broken into house, you said you got the number plate."

"Yes." Raj said. He showed the picture to Amy. "I think the police will run it through the systems and take care of it themselves..."

"I need it now!" Amy said.

"Why?" Howard asked. "I thought you said nothing was taken."

"Wait!" Amy said in realisation. "What does he mean by 'out to get him again'?"

"He is talking about how he was drugged and beaten up by some group of weirdos. He thinks they went to your house in search for him." Raj told her.

Amy opened her eyes wide. If that were the case, Sheldon would be in a lot of pain.

"I don't want you to know why." She told them "But I need to know about that number plate! Now!"

#

When Sheldon opened his eyes all he could see was blurriness and darkness. He didn't know where he was or how he travelled there. But he knew he was lying down on a floor. And that he had a huge headache. He suddenly remembered someone pointing a gun at him in Amy's house. He then remembered then having two people grab him by the arms and then another person putting something in his mouth which must've made him pass out.

"Do you know how many years I've worked on String Theory Dr. Cooper?" a familiar voice asked. The darkness and blurriness prevented him from seeing this person but he noticed something was also covering his face.

"No." Sheldon answered.

"Every day since I got my doctorate. And now you've disproved it, all that work is in vain." He said.

Sheldon was about to argue back but a foot slammed hard into his stomach causing a lot of physical pain. Sheldon couldn't help but throw up at that very moment.

"Disgusting." The voice said. "You'd think someone that smart could handle some small pain like this." Sheldon was kicked again and made an involuntary moan in pain.

"Please stop." Sheldon pleaded. "I have to get home!"

"You are not going home!" The foot kicked him again.

"Please, Dr. Underhill…"

"Wait…" he said. "How did you…"

Sheldon recognised the voice as Dave Underhill, the horny physicist who Leonard worked with once.

"Like you said. I am smart." Sheldon argued back. He was kicked again for this comeback.

"There is no way you are getting out of here this time!" he said. "I've added extra security!" Dave Underhill gave a small laugh and Sheldon heard footsteps move away from him and a door shut. Sheldon couldn't help but throw up again. How was he going to get out of this? How did his universe counterpart get out of this? It was dark and he saw no windows in the room so he assumed he was in some basement. Tears began falling down his eyes. He wanted to be hugged by Amy at that moment.

 **Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter. Amy will have to find Sheldon and rescue him from Underhill. I know this is a day late as I usually upload Tuesdays but I had an assignment to do yesterday so I had to publish today. If you wish to leave feedback please review, favourite and follow. Thank you all again.**

 **Clint Cooper**


	20. Chapter 20

Sheldon had never been trapped alone in a dark room before. In his many years of being bullied it was never one of his received punishments for being smarter.

He looked around the room and found nothing. There wasn't even a chair for him to sit on. He had to sit on the ground. He still had a lot of pain from whatever drug they'd given him and all the times David Underhill kicked him. He'd been throwing up continuously which he found very gross and this was heightened by the fact that he had nothing to clean it up with.

There was also no clock in the room which meant he had no idea how much time was going past. Given the pain, it was probably less than what he thought. Staying in the dark room for so much time was skewing with his mind. He began to think that he'd never get back home and to his Amy.

His eyes hurt when the door to the room opened and light flowed in. He thought of making a run for it, somehow tackling the door-opener to the ground like Batman. When he got up on his knees to stand up and try his legs buckled down from the pain and ended up kneeling on the ground. When his eyes adjusted to the bright light he saw David Underhill walk in with several security men. He hadn't bothered to hide his face this time. Sheldon quickly hid his 'Amy' bracelet quickly under his shirt sleeve so they wouldn't see it and take it

"Hello, Dr. Cooper." He greeted. "Nice to see you again…"

"Can you please stop with the theatrics?" Sheldon question forcefully. "I need to get home!"

"To meet to that slut, Amy?" he questioned. Sheldon have him an angry glare for saying that about her. "I saw you go to her house in work hours the other day but the taxi drove away before I could get you. But then one of my men saw you leave Caltech today for some reason. That is why we knew to look for you at her house." Sheldon knew the 'other Sheldon' had gone to Amy's house took for him but he didn't know why the 'other Sheldon' left Caltech.

"We knew you were at the hospital and Caltech but we couldn't just send people into those busy places." he continued. Sheldon couldn't care less about this monologue.

"Why did you come down here again?" Sheldon asked, wanting to complete this pointless interaction.

"Because I am angry right now!" he shouted "And when I feel angry I come down here to let it out. Surely you remember that? I guess I did drug you too much last time. You didn't really ever remember the pain but you will this time."

Suddenly two of the security men grabbed Sheldon by the arms and pulled him up. Sheldon tried to fight but they were a lot stronger than he was. He saw David walk up to him and Sheldon noticed he'd wrapped his hands up in a protective cloth. He knew this meant that David was going to punch. He took a deep breath in anticipation.

#

"Why can't the police do this?" AU Sheldon asked Amy. Raj had bought Amy to the other Sheldon's office to get information about the number plate. When he suggested this Amy refused because she knew this Sheldon would suspicious. However she discovered she had no other choice and she was desperate to find him, so she accepted Raj's offer. Howard had taken their son home because he was getting restless being out for so long, so he wasn't there.

"The police said something about privacy laws." Amy explained "That they were going to look up the number plate details themselves and see if they could find anything. But they weren't going to allows us to do it ourselves. A picture of them driving away from my house isn't really evidence that they broke into it and I might be too rash."

"I saw them get into their van but that doesn't mean anything." Raj explained. "That might mean they were investigating the smashed window. But in balaclavas…"

"Ok." The other Sheldon interrupted. "I get it. I'll just hack into the police's system and get the number plate details."

"Thank you." She said.

"If I do this, will you admit you, your husband and another version of me are from a parallel universe?" he asked.

Amy sighed. "I can't admit something that is not true."

The other Sheldon shrugged. "Oh well. I guess you'll never find out who robbed your precious house."

There was a knock on the door and the three of them looked up to see Leonard.

"Hello Sheldon." He said. "And Raj. And Amy Farrah Fowler."

"What are you doing here Leonard?" Sheldon asked. "It isn't time to take me home yet."

"I just wanted to make sure you were okay after the debacle in the cafeteria." He said referencing Penny's outburst.

Sheldon raised his eyebrow. "Did Penny send you to spy on me?"

Leonard gulped. He'd said he'd help keep Sheldon away from Penny which meant hanging out with at work. "What are you three doing?" he asked to change the topic.

"Amy's house was robbed." Raj explained and Leonard gave a concerned look. "I got a number plate of a van that pulled away from the house and Sheldon is going to the hack the police's system…"

"You can do that?" Leonard asked.

"I can do anything." Sheldon boasted.

"I once was crashed into and the driver drove away. I remembered the number plate and Sheldon found them for me." Raj explained. He explained this earlier to Amy when convincing her to bring the plate to AU Sheldon.

"Except now he won't because I won't admit I'm from a parallel universe." Amy said in a mocking tone.

"Sheldon." Leonard said in comforting voice. "That is rude. Didn't your mother teach you to always help a damsel in distress?"

Sheldon sighed. "Okay. I'll help her." He began to type something on his laptop. Leonard gave Amy smug smile.

"Thank you Leonard." She said.

"Okay. I'm in the system." Sheldon said straight away,

"That was quick." Amy commented.

The other Sheldon shrugged. "The system is just a basic database. It is not like nuclear codes or anything. Now those are harder."

"So who robbed Amy?" Raj asked.

Sheldon typed in the number and the details of a person came up.

"David Underhill." Sheldon read out loud. "That name seems familiar."

"How so?" Amy asked.

Sheldon thought for a second. "He is a physicist who works under some millionaire. I think he was one of my competitors on the string theory market."

"Didn't you say something about the people taking you being angry for you disapproving string theory?" Amy questioned.

Sheldon nodded in realisation. "Yes. It is completely possible this man was the person who beat me up."

"What is his address?" Amy asked.

"73 Euclid Avenue." He said, reading from the police's database.

"Great." Amy began walking out of the room.

"You aren't really going to confront him?" Leonard questioned. "If he did do what he did to Sheldon, then he might do the same to you?"

Amy knew this already. But she also knew there was a possibility that her Sheldon was being hurt and she felt an odd desire to save him. Like he was part of her family now. "I'm… I'm…" she began to think of something.

"Has this got to do with the parallel universe?" Sheldon asked. "Did they go to your house to steal something related to that, and you can't tell us."

Amy quickly thought of a rebuttal. "I'm just going to call Dave, my husband Dave, and ask what to do." She said. "There is no need to worry about me or be suspicious."

"That is exactly what someone who was suspicious would say." Sheldon remarked.

"And is exactly what someone who wasn't suspicious would say." She argued. "I've got to go. See you all later." She left Sheldon's office and got out her phone. If she was going to confront David Underhill she would probably need help from Dave nonetheless.

#

David Underhill had just punched Sheldon right in the face. He could feel his nose bleeding and he could taste it. He cringed at the taste of blood.

"Ouch!" he exclaimed. "That hurt!"

"What did you expect ?!" David mocked sarcastically.

Sheldon rolled his eyes. "It is Dr. Genius. Why do I have to explain that to everyone?"

"Whatever." David ignored this and pushed Sheldon in the stomach. Sheldon let out an involuntary grunt.

"Please stop!" Sheldon pleaded. "I'll do anything!"

"It is too late Dr. Cooper." David Underhill said "You've already disproved string theory and your paper has been backed by everyone. You've ruined every string theorist's career!"

"Just move on to a different field!"

"Moving on is hard!" he shouted. "I just get angry all the time!" David punched Sheldon again, this time on the shoulder. Sheldon moaned in pain.

"I'm sorry." Sheldon apologised. "I'm sure you'll find something else."

"You mean like the crazy anomalies on the news?" Underhill loved. "What a bunch of mumbo jumbo!"

"What anomalies?" Sheldon questioned.

"Apparently last Wednesday some brain-dead scientist's experiments were skewed and they think something happened to cause this." he explained. "Hokum."

Sheldon remembered arriving last Wednesday. He knew the anomalies would evoke scientists to investigate what caused it, and if it was him that did that he might be discovered. In fact if he did return home the anomalies would occur again and would cause more scientific research. If Amy and Dave were found out to be helping a person from another universe, what would happen to them? He'd learnt to care for them and he didn't want their lives to be bad once he left. When did he become so caring for people?

"Hokum." Sheldon agreed.

"Don't agree with me, Dr. Cooper!" He punched him again in the stomach. Sheldon felt a large amount of discomfort. His mind suddenly went into overdrive as if the pain was taking over. All the thoughts that he'd had over his time in this universe were bought to the fore-front of his brain as if to try and push the pain out.

Then something came to his mind. "The dream! 44!" His eyes opened wide in surprise and he smiled. The pain had made him think of something.

"Why are you smiling?" David Underhill asked

"It has been in my subconscious the entire time! The dream was trying to tell me that! Hit me again! I need the depths of my mind to be explored and pain is doing that!" Sheldon demanded.

"What?" David asked in shock.

"You are angry. So hit me!" Sheldon taunted.

David gave a wondering look of confusion. "Okay…" he said and gave him another punch, this time towards the face. Sheldon felt a large amount of discomfort which his mind continued to push out with more thoughts.

"44! Yes! Keep going!" Sheldon insisted.

"Is this some sort of mind game?" he asked with confusion. "You think I'll stop if you encourage me? Reverse psychology…"

"You can think whatever Dr. Underhill." He said. "But I'd like it very much if you'd hit me again."

David looked like he was in a dilemma. Would he hit him again or not? Sheldon hoped he would. He was finding his mind was thinking faster when he felt miserable

#

"So this is the house?" Dave questioned Amy as the two parked outside of it. This part of Euclid Avenue seemed to be a rich area. The houses were quite large and David Underhill's was no exception. Put Amy's quant house to shame.

"Yes." She responded. "But I don't know what to do. We can't just knock on the door and demand to know where Sheldon is. For all we know, the license plate was fake."

"Or they'll trap us in there with Sheldon." Dave stated. "We need to do something though."

"I could always break in." Amy suggested.

"What?' Dave asked.

"I've done this before. I had to sneak my way in and out of my mother's house before to go to parties I wasn't invited to."

"That is different." Dave said. "And your childhood home is smaller than this!"

"Well what do we suggest we do?" Amy asked.

"Just knock in the door and ask them about vacuum cleaners."

"Seriously?" Amy asked.

"I don't know."

"We could go up to them and say we are looking for a missing person." She said. "Say we are going to every house and add some tears to look sad."

"Didn't you say we couldn't demand to know where Sheldon is?" Dave asked.

"Not demand!" Amy explained. "Ask them nicely and pretend to be going from door to door and not his house in particular. If they are lying I can tell." She remembered meeting Sheldon for the first time and knowing he wasn't telling the truth.

"That won't work." Dave disagreed.

"I'm going to try! I have to!" Amy opened the door of her car and walked up to the large house. She rung the doorbell.

#

David Underhill was looking at a very smug Sheldon who had him in a standstill. He wanted to be hit and for some reason that made him want to stop because he didn't want Dr. Cooper to be feeling any pleasure. But he could just be playing with his mind.

They were interrupted with the ringing of Underhill's phone.

"What is it?" David Underhill asked. "I told you not to ring me when I'm down here!"

"There is someone at the door." Sheldon managed to hear the person on the other end explain.

"Who?"

"I don't know. I've never seen her before."

"You idiot!" he exclaimed "Just describe her!"'

"She has brown hair and glasses. Wearing similar clothes to my grandma" The person said.

"It's that whore, Amy Farrah Fowler." David Underhill exclaimed and glared at Sheldon. "Just let me talk to her." He hung up the phone.

"I'll be back later. Don't think your pain is over Dr. Cooper!" he said. "And if your 'girlfriend' tries anything she'll just end up in the same place as you. Or maybe somewhere worse." He turned and walked away as Sheldon's face changed to one of worry.

 **So, how will the interaction between Underhill and Amy go? Will she be able to get Sheldon out of his confinement?**

 **Thank you for reading. I've been busy at college but I've been able to keep up with my fanfiction and my ordinary fiction writing which makes me very glad. I bought The Big Bang Theory Season 9 on DVD last Saturday, and have been watching it gradually since then. I also have a new tumblr. It is still ClintCooper but I made a new account so it could be a primary account. I changed my old one to ClintCooper1 to accommodate this change. If you follow me on Tumblr but not on my new account, please follow the new ClintCooper. I've also joined The Big Bang Theory forum because rgbcn has informed me of its existence. It should be fun :D**

 **Please favourite, follow and/or review if you wish to leave feedback. Thank you all again for reading.**

 **Clint Cooper.**


	21. Chapter 21

"Hello." Amy saw David Underhill greet her as he opened the door. He saw the handsome man and wondered – was this the person who drugged and beat up Sheldon?

"Hello." Amy said. She began to cry, fakely, in front of him.

"Oh, what is it?" David asked in a comforting voice.

"It is my work colleague." She said between fake sobs. "He has disappeared."

"Ok." He said with zero comfort. "Are you looking for him?"

"Yes." She cried "He was in my house and someone broke in and he went missing. His name Dr. Sheldon Cooper." She bought up a picture on her phone, which came from the AU Sheldon's Facebook profile. "He is sweet and smart and kind of annoying if you're not used to him."

"I haven't seen him." He said.

Amy couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. "Are you sure? He must be somewhere in Pasadena…"

"I'm sorry I don't know. " he told her "I'm really sorry."

"That's okay." She said in-between more fake sobs. "I'll move onto the next home." She began to walk down the house's driveway.

"Goodbye then." Dave said before closing the door. Amy walked up the driveway and back into her car where Dave was still waiting.

"So?" Dave asked "What did he say?'

"That guy is crafty. He looks and acts comforting and warm but he really is a worm." She explained. "He was lying the entire time!"

"So you think he does know?" Dave asked.

"Yes. We might need to get in that house and find Sheldon, like I suggested." Amy told him.

"But how?" Dave asked.

"We'll need back-up. Call the police!" Amy demanded.

#

"Are you okay Sheldon?" Leonard asked as he drove him home.

"A whole day." AU Sheldon shook his head. "A whole day and I have zero evidence that Dr. Fowler is from a parallel universe and that she is hiding me somewhere."

"Well you tried." Leonard justified.

"I questioned Dr. Fowler and her husband and got nothing." He shook his head.

"Could you think of any other reason for experiment anomalies?" Leonard asked.

"I read all the articles Dr. Barnett put on the internet and I have three conclusions 1. Conspiracy by the scientists of the world to trick me, 2. Time travel or 3. Parallel Universe Travel." He explained.

"You do realise why that might sound farfetched?" Leonard asked.

The other Sheldon nodded. "True. I don't see why anyone would want to trick me! I'm so nice!"

Leonard couldn't help but laugh. "Okay. Whatever you think." He said. "I just thought you'd be sad about Penny as well."

"Well of course. I've made many changes to schedule and I am disappointed that it will be disrupted during this 'break'." He said.

"And what if she decides to make the break permanent?" Leonard asked.

"Not going to happen."

"Let's play hypotheticals then?" Leonard asked. "What would you do if she hypothetically breaks up with you?"

"Okay." Sheldon agreed. "If she does I'll be sad for the same reason."

"You'll only be sad only because it disrupts your schedule?" Leonard asked with curiosity.

"Is that not a valid reason to be sad?" Sheldon questioned.

"Yes, it is, but I would have expected a larger emotional response to losing your girlfriend of about two years…"

"Leonard." Sheldon interrupted. "We haven't talked in some time but you must remember that I'm not a hippy. Emotional responses are for people with arts degrees."

Leonard couldn't believe that Sheldon was telling him. If Sheldon really loved Penny, then he'd have a bigger response to Penny breaking up with him. Or was he just hiding his emotions?

"Can you hear that?" Sheldon asked.

"Hear what?" Leonard questioned.

"The sirens." Sheldon pointed out. Suddenly Leonard heard it as well. There were two police cars driving up the road. Leonard slowed down and changed lanes to let them pass.

"I wonder where they are going." Leonard said.

"Wonder on your own time." Sheldon said "Concentrate on driving. I can wonder for you."

"Oh, wow I've missed this." Leonard said sarcastically, remembering their old car banter before Sheldon dated Penny.

"It seems to be going down Euclid Avenue!" Sheldon noticed. "Go down it!"

"You hate Euclid Avenue!" Leonard argued.

"Just drive down it, okay?" Sheldon requested. Leonard shrugged and indicated. He turned down the road and followed.

"Is this because the address you gave to Dr. Fowler was for Euclid Avenue?" Leonard asked.

"No." Sheldon disagreed. "But since you bought it up, make sure to go past number 73."

Leonard couldn't help but laugh at Sheldon disguising his interest. Since going past number 73 was towards Sheldon's apartment Leonard didn't complain.

The two were shocked when the police cars were parked outside of 73 Euclid Avenue. What had happened?

#

Sheldon's pain from all the punches Underhill pulled had decreased. He could feel the blood running down his face and onto his good shirt as well as seeing a bruise develop on his shoulder. He also threw up again, which increased his discomfort. His mind did still try and push out the discomfort and pain by thinking of ideas. Ideas that might actually get him out of this world. To his Amy. But it wasn't enough.

Light re-entered the dark room and Sheldon saw Underhill walked back in.

"I've dealt with your girl." He said. "Now back to you."

"What do you mean 'dealt with'?" Sheldon questioned with worry.

"I'm not telling you." He said. "Maybe the thought of what I might've did to her will wipe the smile off your face."

Sheldon couldn't tell if he was telling the truth but he knew that either way, he was playing games with his mind. Sheldon had to try and ignore the pain Amy might be going through. He needed to feel more discomfort so more ideas about getting home would come to him.

"We might as well get back to the beatings." Sheldon said. "Have your goons grab me and get started."

Underhill sighed. "I don't know why your attitude suddenly changed but I'm not going to play into your games. You won't be getting a beating now."

"But I really want one!" Sheldon insisted. He didn't actually want one but more discomfort would trigger his brain to continue to think of ways to get home.

"Too bad." He said. "Grab him!"

"What? I thought…"

"I'm not going to hurt you. I'm just going to give you one of our drugs." He reached into his pocket. "This miracle skews the mind and causes memory distortion. So your mind is tortured as much as the body. And if you escape you won't remember details of this place."

Two of his security guards grabbed Sheldon. He tried to get free but he wasn't strong enough.

"Do you hear that?" One of the security guards asked.

"Do I pay you to hear things?" Underhill asked in a tone that reminded Sheldon of himself.

"I'm pretty sure it is sirens." Another guard added.

Underhill shouted in frustration when he heard them to and sweared. "I'll deal with this." he handed one of the men the drug. "Give him this!"

#

Amy was close by 73 Euclid Avenue when the police arrived. She was waiting in her car with Dave. Dave called the police and told them that he was being held captive inside and made it so that it sounded like the phone was being pulled away. The police responded right away and now two officers were walking towards the building. They saw Underhill opening the door and looking confused. Then the officers forced their way in his house.

"What if they don't find anything?" Dave asked.

"They should." She said. "He was lying."

Suddenly the two of them saw another stop at the side of the road.

"That car looks familiar." Amy said.

The two of them saw Sheldon and Leonard step out of the car.

"Oh no!" Amy exclaimed. "If they see them taking Sheldon out of there, this whole thing will go wrong!"

 **So Leonard and AU Sheldon are near where Sheldon is. Can Amy stop them from going near Underhill's house?**

 **Thanks for reading. I know I was meant to upload yesterday but my internet was down for most of the day so I had to upload today. Next chapter is a very good and intense chapter so I can't wait for you to read it next week. If you wish to leave feedback please favourite, follow or review. Thank you once again.**

 **Clint Cooper.**


	22. Chapter 22

"The police are entering the house!" Leonard exclaimed.

"Do you really have to state the obvious Leonard?" AU Sheldon rolled his eyes. The two had gotten out of their car to see what the fuss was about. They began to walk towards the house but saw Amy and Dave rushing towards them.

"Did you two call the police on them?" Leonard asked.

"I was really angry that they broke into my house!" Amy explained when she got closer to them. "But it is actually nothing. I'd advise you to go home!"

"I expected you to have better control of your emotions Dr. Fowler." Sheldon said. "Unless… you're lying. Am I in there? Is there a parallel universe machine in there?"

"No." she shook her head. "But this whole thing is a misunderstanding. None of your business."

Sheldon still looked like he didn't believe her.

"Are you two hungry?" Dave asked.

"Of course. We haven't had dinner yet." Leonard added.

"He is trying to distract us…"

"Do you know he Cheesecake Factory?" Dave asked. "I believe they have a really good barbecue bacon cheeseburger."

"I know." Sheldon said. "I usually get barbecue bacon and cheese on the side."

"We should go and get some." He said. "Have dinner together."

"I'm up for it." Leonard said. "Are you?"

"Will you pay?" Sheldon asked Dave.

"Yeah." Dave said. "It'd be an honour."

"Is she coming?" Sheldon asked and gestured to Amy.

"I need to stay here and sort this out." She told them "But I'll meet you there if I can."

"She is…" He once again was about to state that she was lying.

"Sheldon!" Leonard interrupted "Please don't fixate on this. Can't we just have a nice dinner as friends? Like we used to?"

"Fine. Since Dr. Fowler's husband is paying I'll come with." He said. He then stared Amy straight in the eye. "But I will be investigating this event further!"

Dave, Leonard and Sheldon got into Leonard's car and Leonard drove away to The Cheesecake Factory.

When Amy took a deep breath her and her heart rate decreased. She then heard the door of 73 Euclid Avenue open and turned around to see what it was.

#

Dave Underhill had left to deal with the sirens. Two of the guards had grabbed Sheldon by the arms and were holding him up. Sheldon tried to get out of their grip but couldn't. They were too strong. He saw the guard that Dave gave the drug to walk towards him.

"If you don't open your mouth I'll do it for you." He told Sheldon. "And that will be painful."

"I need pain right now. Discomfort helps me reach my subconscious."

"Whatever dude." The guard said. "I'm not a scientist like Mr. Underhill so stop the mumbo jumbo crap."

The guard began to put his hands towards Sheldon's mouth. Sheldon kept his mouth firmly shut and began to struggle. He had to try and not get that drug in him. If David was correct the drug could affect his memory. What if he forgot about home? Or how to get there?

Suddenly Sheldon realised something. His legs were not confined. His arms were held by the guards but he could try something with his legs. Sheldon slammed his foot straight at one of the guard's knee caps and the guard let go reactively. Sheldon slammed his other foot onto the other guard's foot and he also let go. Sheldon didn't have a plan but he dodged passed the guard with the drug towards the door. Sheldon had always been quite fast thanks to his long legs so he made it to the door quickly. He tried to open the door but it was locked. He wished Howard was there to pick the lock. He must've been desperate to wish Howard was there.

He heard muffled voices on the other side of the door. He heard one being David Underhill but there was two he couldn't make out.

Sheldon banged on the door. "Help!" he shouted. Suddenly a guard reached over his face and strongly covered Sheldon's mouth. He tried to shout more but nothing would be heard.

"Shut up!" the guard whispered. Suddenly he realised there was something between the guard's hand and his mouth and that it was pill shaped. The drug. The guard was trying to get the drug in Sheldon's mouth forcefully right there. Sheldon tried to move but one guard had taken his hands and was holding his legs together. What was he going to do?

#

Amy was surprised to see David Underhill and the police officer shaking hands. She expected David Underhill in handcuffs.

"What are you doing officer?" Amy walked angrily over to them.

"Who are you?" the officer asked. Amy saw he had Evans on his nametag.

"My colleague is trapped in that building!" she insisted. "You have to get him out!"

"I remember you." Dave said. "You were crying and looking for…"

"I only went to this house! I wasn't going from house to house."

"We looked." The officer insisted. "We found nothing."

"Well look harder!" Amy exclaimed. The officer shook his head. "Fine! I'll do it myself!" Amy pushed through the two quickly and rushed into the house. The house was quite large so she kept having to turn corners and hallways.

"Come back here mam!" Officer Evans shouted. Amy turned back to see him and David quickly following her.

"He is in this house!" Amy said. "I know it."

"This lady is crazy!" Underhill insisted. "The only people here are me and my staff."

"Help!"

"Did you hear that?" Amy asked.

"Hear what?" Officer asked.

"It came from underneath us." Amy began to pace around the room she was in. "It was faint but I heard someone shouting help!"

"You are delusional." Underhill let out a fake laugh.

Amy saw that there was a carpet on the floor and kicked it over. There was a large trapdoor with a lock.

"What is this?" the officer asked

"My wine cellar!" Dave lied.

"Open it!" the officer insisted. "Or I will!"

"No."

"What is it Evans?" someone asked. The three turned and saw a large group of officers walking in. There were two cars that arrived at the house but only Evans originally approached the house. Somehow Evans had contacted them secretly when things were looking suspicious.

"He won't open this 'wine cellar', Officer Renner!"

"Luckily Officer Ruffalo knows how to pick locks." Renner said. An officer walked up to door and unlocked it. Evans walked down some steps and Amy followed him. They were followed by Underhill and more officers.

"Ruffalo!" Evan said. "We have another locked door." The group had been down the steps and saw an ordinary locked door. Ruffalo picked this lock, which looked tougher to pick but he managed it. The door opened and the entire group of officers, Amy and Underhill saw Sheldon with several guards constraining him. One had his hand over his mouth.

Evans had no choice but raise his gun. "Get off this man!" he shouted. The guards suddenly saw him and the gun and let go. Evan gestured to all of the officers. "Put all these men, including Underhill, in handcuffs and bring them down to the station." The police quickly rushed around the room and getting to the guard and Underhill before they attempted to get away.

Amy turned to see Sheldon who was kneeling on the floor and looking down at it with big breathes in and out. She saw the Amy bracelet under his sleeve and was happy it wasn't taken from him.

"Sheldon!" Amy said happily.

"Amy!" Sheldon looked up and smiled. "I'm so happy to see you."

Sheldon couldn't help himself. He stood up and planted a kiss on Amy's lips. Amy quickly leant away.

"I'm sorry Sheldon. I'm married." She explained.

"Oh. I almost forgot." Sheldon realised what he'd just done. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean.. I was just so happy…" Suddenly Sheldon leant over and threw up.

"What did they do to you?" she asked, trying to change the topic.

"Just drugged me and beat me." He said. "Luckily they didn't use the memory wiping drug…"

"We need to get you some food and rest." She insisted.

Sheldon shook his head. "I'd love that but I have a request."

"What?" Amy asked.

"You might need to beat me up…"

#

"I don't think I can do this." Amy looked down at her fist which were wrapped in protective wrapping. "You already have so much pain."

Amy convinced the police, after a long discussion on health and legalities, that Sheldon didn't need to go the hospital. Sheldon had insisted he had no major damage and just bruises. Even his nose wasn't broken. It just bled and he was still wearing his blood stained t-shirt. They were both now back at Dave's lab.

"I've explained this to you Amy." He said. "I need to feel pain to reach into the depths of my brain."

Amy sighed and punched Sheldon but it was only very lightly. It was obvious she wasn't trying hard.

Suddenly the door of Dave's lab opened and Dave walked in. He saw Amy punch Sheldon. He then saw how bruised Sheldon looked and the blood on his shirt.

"You can do better than that!" Sheldon insisted.

"What is happening here?" Dave asked.

"I rescued Sheldon from David Underhill who beat him. And now Sheldon thinks if I hit him, that he'll find a way home…" Amy said. "

"I'll explain it." Sheldon said. "But for full disclosure I have to inform you that I kissed Amy."

"What?!" Dave said shocked.

"I had just been rescued by her and I momentarily forgot that she was married." He explained. "She pushed away immediately."

"Okay…"

"I understand showing vulnerability like that during a moment of weakness may be disappointing but I want you to know that I'm still the impressive genius you love." He said.

"Of course. You are still smart."

"But for the record I intend to kiss my Amy like she has never been kissed before if I get home." Sheldon added. Amy raised her eyebrow at Sheldon because of this comment.

"Is Amy beating you up because you kissed her?" Dave asked.

Sheldon snorted. "No." he said. "When I was in the containment of David Underhill I began to get some ideas for how to get home to my universe and it was always when I was in physical pain. I remember reading about an experiment from Yerkes and Dodson in my universe stating that great physical and mental accomplishment can come from discomfort. I firmly believe that happened to me in there. That the deep depths of my sub conscious came out to overcome the physical pain. I remember the number of 44 being involved which means that dreams also come from the sub conscious, hence mine about the dancing numbers."

Sheldon noted Dave was listening intently.

"So Amy was not beating you up because you kissed her?" he asked. "What did she do about that then?"

"She stated she was married and to tell me it wasn't okay." He told Dave. "And now she needs to put in all her effort to physically harm me."

"Sheldon! Look at you!" Amy began to get loud. "You are bruised, bloodied, clearly malnourished and in need of some rest! I can't in my right mind beat you up!"

"I can!" Dave interrupted.

"Really, Dave?" Amy asked sarcastically. "You praise the guy. You really think you can beat him up."

"Do you think you can?" Sheldon asked. "I need nice hard punches!"

"I won't look at it as Dr. Sheldon Cooper." He explained. "I'll look at it as the guy who kissed my wife."

Suddenly there was an awkward silence as Sheldon and Amy glanced at each other. Sheldon had expected Dave to not care much about him kissing her given it was right after he was rescued.

"Okay then…" Amy interrupted the silence. She unwrapped her hand and gave them to Dave. "Go at it. I'll go get us some food whilst you two play boxing." She said. She looked with concern as Dave began to wrap the wrapping on his hand.

"It'll be okay Amy." Sheldon reassured. "I have some paper here write down anything I think of."

"I'm not worried about writing materials Sheldon." She said. "Dave, don't get too carried away."

"I won't." Dave told her. "I'll just help his brain retract information from his subconscious. And let out some steam."

Amy sighed and walked out of the room. She hoped this beat up session wouldn't be for nothing.

 **So Sheldon has been freed and now he wishes to feel more discomfort to think of a way home. I've written the next chapter and it is really intense, so I look forward for you all to read it. Will Sheldon figure out how to return home?**

 **Thank you for reading. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. If you wish to leave feedback please favourite, follow or review. Thank you once again.**

 **Clint Cooper.**


	23. Chapter 23

Dave stood in front of Sheldon ready to punch him. Sheldon took a deep breath to help endure it.

"Are you ready Dr. Cooper?" Dave asked.

"Go ahead, Dave." Sheldon said. Dave suddenly punched Sheldon straight in the shoulder.

"Ouch!" Sheldon exclaimed.

Dave looked at him with concern. "I'm sorry. Was that too much?"

Sheldon shook his head. "That was perfect. Do it again!"

Dave complied and punched Sheldon again. Sheldon said 'ouch' again but less loudly, as not to stop Dave from doing this. He knew Dave was slightly ticked of that he'd kissed Amy but Dave was still a nice guy who was concerned for him.

The punching continued and Sheldon's subconscious took over. The combination of hunger, pain and discomfort from still wearing his blood stained T-Shirt bought the ultimate combination of suppression. It wasn't enough though. The number 44 kept popping up in his head and he kept recalling the dancing number telling him how important it was.

Another punch made an equation pop up in his head but it disappeared quickly.

"Malarkey!" Sheldon said.

"What?" Dave asked.

"It was almost there." Sheldon said. "Some sort of equation. You have to do that exact punch one more time!"

"Okay." Dave said. Dave went to punch Sheldon once again as the door of the lab swung open and Amy walked back in with two take-away bags of food. Sheldon saw her just as Dave had hit him and the equation appeared in front of mind.

"I've got it!" Suddenly Sheldon reached for the paper he'd prepared for and began writing what he had seen in his mind.

"You've got what you need to return home?" Amy questioned and walked over to the paper.

Sheldon read over what he'd just written.

"I need to get my calculations for the machine." Sheldon said. "What I think is probably right, but I need to check."

"I hid it in a different room when the other Sheldon stopped by." Dave said. "I can contact a janitor to get them."

"Yes. Do that." Sheldon began to pace around the room looking at the equation he'd just written. Dave began to call a janitor.

"Sheldon." Amy interrupted. "Whilst the janitor gets the calculations, sit down and eat something."

"What if that decreases my discomfort and all my thoughts vanish?"

"Sheldon. You don't need to increase your discomfort to think of ideas." Amy told him. Sheldon still didn't sit down. "Explain the equation you wrote down to me whilst we eat. That way, you won't forget."

Sheldon sighed. "Fine. I am feeling very hungry."

Sheldon sat down and saw in the take-away bag was a barbecue bacon cheeseburger. Sheldon quickly took it out and took a bite. He swallowed and it felt like his entire body felt pleasure from finally eating something.

"Okay." Sheldon said. "I'll explain how I think I can return to my universe." He took another bite of the burger and swallowed. He handed Amy the piece of paper he'd written the equation on. Sheldon noticed Dave look over at the two at the end of the phone call with the janitor.

"What is this?" Amy asked.

"When I was working on the machine back in my universe I solved 28 simultaneous equations to make it work. This was something other scientists could not do." He explained and Amy nodded. "Well that equation is a variation of one of them."

"What do you mean 'variation'?" Dave asked, sitting next to them.

"I changed one of the equations to make it work with the other 27." Sheldon explained. "I had to choose constants that would work for the coefficients in the equation. Look at the numbers." Sheldon took another bite of his burger.

"218, 97.12, 44, 51, 1934.3 and 3524.029." Amy read them.

"I didn't notice it but when I was testing my machine that the 44th test sent me to a parallel universe. If I'd continued with a 51st test or a 97th test I would have been sent to one too." Sheldon explained. "And given the equation is the one meant to represent the final generation of the universes, I believe I unknowingly chose which universes I'd be sent by picking those constants as coefficients."

"So what does that mean for returning?" Amy asked.

"That means the 44th universe connected to this one is my one. And I need to test my machine until the 44th test before I can return home." Sheldon explained.

Suddenly there was a knock on the door and Dave opened it revealing a janitor at the door. Dave saw all Sheldon's work on a trolley and bought it in and shut the door. Sheldon stood up and took his calculations. He smiled and nodded when he saw the equation on the last page.

"Let me see." Dave said. Sheldon handed the papers to him. "It seems Sheldon is right. The equation is the universe generation one." Dave agreed with Sheldon's explanation.

"So, that means you can return home?" Amy asked.

Sheldon gave a smile. "Yes. I need to test the machine until the 44th test though." Sheldon looked at the machine on the trolley. "Let's set this up and get it working." Sheldon noticed Amy look down at the ground for an instant before trying to look like she didn't.

"We can't do it here." Amy said. "Is there anywhere with more space?"

"What about a Caltech basement?" Sheldon questioned. Amy nodded in agreement.

#

It was currently night-time so the three of them though it'd be safe going to Caltech without running into the other Sheldon, Penny or Leonard. Given Amy worked there, they had no problem getting in the building and going to the basement.

"This is where this whole mess started." Sheldon told them as they entered the room in the basement. "I came down here every day at two forty-five to work on this machine in privacy. And now I am back."

Sheldon, Dave and Amy set up the generator in the room and towards the back, so it wouldn't accidentally bring Amy and Dave into it. Only Sheldon would be near it, to turn it off and on.

"Okay we need some rules. I am going to turn this generator off and on 43 times. You two need to stand right back. No going near the generator portal." Sheldon told them. Amy and Dave nodded as they heard. "If anything goes wrong like the machine begins to malfunction you two must leave the room immediately. No exceptions."

The two nodded once again. "We understand Sheldon." Amy said.

"Okay." Sheldon said. "Time to test. Stand right back." Sheldon gestured to the two. Amy and Dave stood away from the machine. Sheldon took a deep breath and flicked the on switch.

Suddenly a blue circle was generated next to the machine. Sheldon smiled as it seemed his machine had worked.

"Wow." Dave couldn't help say.

"I can't believe this." Amy smiled. "It's real. You were right about the generator."

Sheldon turned the machine off. "That is test 1." He said. "Time for test 2." And he turned the machine on again.

#

"Test 26." Sheldon turned the generator on again.

Suddenly there was a knock on the basement door. "Is there anyone in there?" The voice was familiar. It was the other Sheldon. Everyone in the room was shocked. Sheldon quickly turned the generator off.

Everyone in the room stayed silent but their hearts were beating fast under the pressure. The other Sheldon tried to turn the knob but luckily Amy had locked the door.

"Good thing Howard taught me to pick locks." AU Sheldon said.

"We need to do something." Amy whispered as quietly as possible to Sheldon.

Sheldon had to think. He gestured towards a table in the room. "Move this table in front of the door so he can't get in." he whispered back. Amy, Dave and Sheldon grabbed parts of the table and carried it over to the door.

The other Sheldon had just picked the lock and got the door handle to turn completely. He pushed to open the door but the table stopped it opening. AU Sheldon tried several more times but failed.

"The door must be jammed." AU Sheldon said. "There can't be anyone in there then." He thought aloud. "I'll look for Penny and Leonard elsewhere." The three heard AU Sheldon's footsteps walk away from the room and up the basement stairs.

Amy gave a confused look. Why would AU Sheldon be looking for Penny and Leonard at Caltech in the middle of the night? Sheldon saw this confusion.

"We don't have time to wonder." Sheldon said. "Gossipy gossip is less important than getting home."

"I know." Amy said. She was taking deep breathes after the shock of the other Sheldon appearing. "Let's move on to test 27."

"Okay." Sheldon knelt down in front of the machine. "Test 27." He turned the machine on and the blue circle appeared again.

#

"Test 43." Sheldon turned the machine on once again and saw it work. He watched it for a few second before turning it off. Suddenly Sheldon felt nervous. The next test, the 44th test, was the test that would mean he would return home. He'd put on protective clothing, say goodbye to Amy and Dave and hopefully return to the love of his life. He was worried that he got his calculation wrong and that he'd end up with Dinosaurs or Nazis. But he went through his brain. The breakthrough about the equation was correct. He saw no flaw in his reasoning. It was the best chance he'd have at getting home.

Someone had just tried to turn the door knob to enter the room. Dave and Amy had left the table in front of the door so it was still not working. They heard someone giggle.

"The door is not working." They heard Leonard say.

"Let me try." They heard Penny tell him. The door knob jiggled again but didn't work. "Come on! Come on!" She tried with more force but it didn't work.

"The door must be jammed." Leonard said. "This door never used to be jammed. I used to come down here all the time."

"We'll just have to find somewhere else." Penny said.

"Okay." Leonard said. "But you promised we would get to have sex."

"Yes Lenny." Penny said and Sheldon, Amy and Dave heard the two walk back up the basement stairs.

"I thought she was dating the other Sheldon." Dave said.

"I think they broke up." Amy added. "But it isn't surprising to see Leonard and Penny so chummy."

"Amy and Dave." Sheldon interrupted. "I understand a basic human need to gossip but I need to return home during the final test."

"Right." Amy said. "We should say goodbye."

"It was a pleasure to meet you Dr. Cooper." Dave said. "You were smarter and even better than I ever expected. I'm sorry for getting angry after you kissed Amy. I now understand it was after a moment of weakness. Goodbye Dr. Cooper. It was a pleasure."

"Thank you Dave." Sheldon said sincerely. "It was great to have your help to return home."

Suddenly Amy went up to Sheldon and hugged him.

"You do realise there is still blood on my T-Shirt from before." Sheldon added.

Amy stopped the hug. "You really know how to ruin a moment." She laughed.

"Well, I only try." Sheldon joked back.

"I will miss you Sheldon. It was a pleasure to see you work and help you return home. I can only hope you and your Amy have a great life in your universe. You deserve after all the torment you went through here." She said. Suddenly a tear fell down her face. "Goodbye Sheldon."

"Don't cry." Sheldon comforted. "I will hopefully be back home and happy. I will miss you both too and will be very grateful eternally for your help, and I'm not grateful often. Goodbye."

"Goodbye." Amy said sadly.

"Firstly I need to put on my protective clothing." Sheldon said before realising he still had Amy's bracelet on. "Do you want this back?"

"Do possessions go through the generator?" Amy asked.

"I'm wearing the clothing I was wearing back there, so I think so." He said.

"Then keep it. Will help you remember us." Amy said.

"Thank you." Sheldon said. "I will treasure it forever."

Sheldon put on his protective suit which covered his entire body and an oxygen mask, in case the generator portal didn't have proper air.

"I will set the machine to destroy itself once the generation is complete, so no one in the universe can use it to travel through universes but you two should throw remains away." Sheldon explained. "I destroyed my notes before leaving your lab so no one can replicate this."

"We know how bad it can be to travel through universes." Dave explained. "I don't want to go through that."

"Okay." Sheldon took a deep breath. "Test 44." He leant down and turned the generator on.

"Goodbye." Dave said which a lump in his throat.

Sheldon stood up, ready to step into them machine. Suddenly Amy walked up to him and gave him another hug. "Goodbye." She said.

"Goodbye, Dr. Fowler. I won't see you again but you will be remembered." Sheldon said sincerely. Amy stopped the hug and stepped backwards, back next to Dave. Sheldon gave them one last wave goodbye.

Sheldon took another deep breath to calm himself and stepped into the generator.

 **So Sheldon steps in the generator. Will he get back home? Or will something go wrong and will he remain in the old universe? Or will he get stuck in another universe? Or will another plot scenario happen?**

 **Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I made all of the equation stuff up so it isn't physics or mathematically accurate. I just wrote the next two chapters and I am sad to say that those two chapters are the last two chapters of the story. I will write a resolution and conclude all the story threads. I should post them next week.**

 **Please favourite, follow or review if you wish to leave feedback. Thank you all again.**

 **Clint Cooper**


	24. Chapter 24

Amy and Dave watched as Sheldon stepped into the generator portal to travel to his universe. Amy couldn't help but cry and had tears were flowing down her eyes. Dave held Amy in a hug to help comfort her but even he couldn't hold back tears as several went down his face. Through wet eyes they saw that Sheldon had completely gone into the generator. There would be no going back. If Sheldon was right he would be transported to the 44th universe connected to that one, which would be his home. Even if he was wrong and stuck in some other universe there was a large chance that they would never see this Sheldon ever again. The blue circle that was the portal suddenly vanished before the two and the generator suddenly sparked and made a small exploding sound. A small amount of black smoke rose from the machine.

"Is that…" Amy began but couldn't find the words.

"That must be the self-destruct that Sheldon was talking about before." Dave said. "We can no longer contact our Sheldon." Amy couldn't help but cry more.

Dave put his arm around Amy again. "Don't cry Amy." Dave comforted. "He is probably home right now, re-uniting with the love of his life and getting back to his old idiosyncrasies."

Amy kept crying but after Dave's words less tears came down her face. "You are right. We now need to get on with our lives. You with your physics and I have the brain study."

Dave saw the machine had stopped producing black smoke. He went to pick it up but it was really hot.

"I have gloves." Amy went into the purse she had and handed two pink gloves to Dave. He raised an eyebrow. "Fine, I will hold it." Amy took them back and put them on. She grabbed the machine. With the gloves the machine was still hot but not enough to cause discomfort. Dave moved the table that was blocking the door and the two walked out of the basement door. Amy had stopped crying but her face was still red from it.

The two saw that it was now early morning, approximately 7am. People would be arriving to work so they needed to get rid of the machine quickly. The found a bag to put it in discreetly and went to the special waste bin for machinery to put it in. They'd made sure it was completely destroyed before doing this. They noticed that all the circuit boards they'd soldered were completely ruined and no one would be able to figure out what it was.

"This sucks." Amy said as she put the machine in the bin.

"I miss him too." Dave said. "It is like throwing him away."

"I know and that all this work we did with him is now gone." She stated. "It will be like none of this ever happened."

"Not necessarily." Dave added. "You'll always have the memory of him."

Amy nodded but she knew that his memory would never be enough. She felt sad and turned her head away from Dave.

"You should get to work." Amy suggested. "You have to run the experiment for Dr. Kardashian. She'll rant about you on Twitter if you don't get that work done."

Dave nodded. "Right. I'll see you at the end of the day. And don't be sad okay?" Amy nodded but knew this wouldn't be possible. Dave gave Amy a kiss on the cheek and said goodbye before leaving. Amy took a deep breath and walked to her office. She washed her hands but before she could do anything she began to cry and it wouldn't stop. It seemed like an eternity of tears until someone interrupted this. Someone just knocked three times twice at the door. It was her universe's Sheldon and his version of the 'Sheldon knock'. She quickly wiped the tears from her face and said. "Come in!" Sheldon opened the door and saw her red face.

"Are you sunburnt?" he asked.

"No."

Suddenly Sheldon stepped back. "Are you ill?"

"No." Amy shook her head.

"Then why…"

"Don't bother." Amy said. "I'm not in the mood."

Sheldon looked at her in suspicion. "Is this about the parallel universe because they detected a second pattern of experimental anomalies this morning…"

"NO!" Amy accidentally shouted.

"Are you sure you are okay Dr. Fowler?" Sheldon asked.

Amy needed to make up something. She looked down at her wrist where her bracelet that said 'Amy' was missing, now in the hands of Sheldon. A lie came to her mind. "My bracelet my grandmother gave me. Stolen."

"Is that what the people who broke in took?" he asked.

Tears suddenly flowed down her face again. "Yes. Not parallel universe machines or another Sheldon hiding somewhere. Just a memory gone."

"What happened when you went to David Underhill's home." Sheldon said.

"He was the robber." Amy told him. "He was arrested but they didn't find the bracelet."

"Well I've delved through my memory I felt sadness at Penny and Leonard coitusing last night and I can remember it now." Sheldon admitted. "He was the one who took me and beat me up. The Police actually called me to testify against him in court this morning. I said yes."

Amy raised an eyebrow. "Penny and Leonard did what?"

Sheldon rolled his eyes. "Of course that was the part you'd want to know more about." He laughed a little. "Well I after Leonard, you husband and I went out to dinner he ran into Penny. They went out and… had coitus. I'm not sure of specifics that led up to it."

"What does that mean for you?" Amy asked.

Sheldon shrugged. "My habits are being amplified from the change. But outside of that I'm oddly fine with it."

"You aren't sad Leonard and Penny are…. you know…."

"I'm not an expert at relationships but I think Penny and I were together to be together. In the end it wasn't because of any feelings we had and this was shown to us when you intervened." Sheldon explained. "I'm am a little sad but I my Spock-side knows that is ridiculous."

"Good for you Sheldon." Amy smiled at him. Amy realised something then. Talking to Sheldon had helped her be less sad.

"Sheldon." She began. "I want to tell you Dave and I are not from parallel universes nor are we hiding you anywhere." This was now true.

Sheldon raised his eyebrow. "Are you telling the truth."

"I swear it." Amy said. "I have nothing to do with experiment anomalies that have been occurring recently. It'd be cool if I'd caused a worldwide event but it wasn't me."

Sheldon looked at her. "I don't know when people are lying. But for some reason I believe you this time."

"Well, I guess this talk has helped us connect." Amy said.

"Okay. I came here to see if we needed to work on anything. Since we were working together before." Sheldon told her.

"I have a brain study to complete this morning." Amy told him and noticed him look to the ground. "But we can always meet up in the Cafeteria at lunch time and talk about work."

"Yes!" Sheldon said immediately.

"Great. I'll meet you in there at 12." She said. Sheldon nodded in agreement.

"Okay. Goodbye Dr. Fowler." He said.

"Goodbye Sheldon." Amy said. Then Amy and Sheldon both turned. Sheldon walked away from the room and Amy towards a brain she'd stored to dissect.

#

 _A week later_

Penny, Leonard, Howard and Raj were in Penny's apartment. Penny and Leonard were sitting next to each other on the left side of the couch whilst Howard was sitting in the one person chair. Raj was at the kitchen bench feeding his baby from a bottle.

The door of the apartment swung open and Sheldon entered the apartment. He was followed my Amy and Dave.

"Hello, everybody." He said. "I know there has been a lot of drama lately with this group but I'd like to give my approval of Leonard and Penny's new found relationship."

"That is very kind of you Sheldon." Penny said with a smile.

"And I would like to introduce Amy and Dave to the group." Sheldon gestured to them.

"I believe I've met all of you at some point." Amy said.

"Hello. I'm Amy's husband Dave." Dave waved. "It is a pleasure Dr. Cooper to meet your friends and eat dinner in your apartment!" He still acted like an excited fanboy when around a Sheldon.

"Well since Penny moved across the hall after we broke up and Leonard moved back in, it is now our apartment, although my name is still the only one on the bills." Sheldon added but no one was really interested.

Amy grabbed her order of Chinese food from the coffee table and went to sit down.

"Thanks for ordering my…"

"No, you can't sit there!" Penny warned. "That is Sheldon's spot."

"Oh." Amy remembered. The other Sheldon had told her about his spot. "Sorry." Both she and Dave sat on the floor next to the coffee table.

"What are we doing?" Dave asked. Leonard pointed to the television where there seemed to be an ice dance tournament.

"Do we have to watch this?" Sheldon asked. "Dancing on ice isn't entertaining. It is dangerous!"

"I like it." Penny added. "Also an old friend of mine from the Cheesecake Factory does it. She moved here to become a Microbiologist but failed all her subjects so she became an ice dancer."

"You aren't talking about Bernadette Rostenkowski?" Howard asked excitedly.

"Of course." Penny said.

"You know her!" Howard exclaimed "How have you never mentioned that!" Penny shrugged at this like it was nothing.

"Howard is obsessed with that girl." Raj said. "Has a huge poster of her in our spare room. He'd probably marry her given the chance."

Howard nervously chuckled. "No I wouldn't. I'd just try it one time to see…"

"Can we please talk about something else." Sheldon interrupted. "What about the experimental anomalies? I say the recent experimental anomalies are complete hokum, made up to bring physics into the public's interests."

"That sounds reasonable." Amy lied.

"I agree with that." Dave also lied.

"Well isn't this nice." Sheldon smiled at the happy re-united group sitting around him. He felt glad that he had two people agreeing with his theory.

The tranquillity was interrupted with a baby crying.

"Raj!" Sheldon interrupted angrily.

"Sorry." Raj said. "I need to go deal with this. Can I use your apartment Penny?"

"Sure thing." Penny said

Raj began to walk out.

"That is two strikes for the baby Raj!" Sheldon told them. "One more and he is banished!" Raj rolled his eyes and walked out to Penny's apartment.

Amy couldn't help laugh. Her Sheldon had told her about his baseball metaphor. But there was no more 'her Sheldon'. The Sheldon from this universe was now the one who she was now friends with. She smiled. She was glad this had happened despite that sadness of him leaving. Because now she'd gained several great friend whom she would have never talked to otherwise.

 **Continue to chapter 25 to find out what happened to Sheldon.**


	25. Chapter 25

When Sheldon stepped his first foot into the generator he instantly felt fear. He knew his next action would determine if he'd see his Amy again or if he'd see anyone again. He we went through the calculations about which universe to go back to in his mind before he had stepped in and he couldn't see anything wrong. But Sheldon knew that even his brilliant mind could make mistakes. He took a deep breath and stepped his other trembling foot in.

The inside of the generator was familiar from his testing back in his world. It was an odd form of gravity where he could still move around in the bright blue glow but he wasn't walking. He instead moved around using swim-like motions. However, he wasn't in any kind of liquid substance but air.

He heard a noise behind him and saw that the generator opening had closed, meaning he could no longer return to the universe he'd spent so much time in. Now he had no idea what to do. He remembered last time blacking out and showing up in the new universe. He tried to move around to see if there was any exit.

After some time, Sheldon began to get worried. There was nothing for him to travel through to get anywhere. He just kept swimming around in circles trying to find something.

Eventually Sheldon began to wonder if he'd be stuck between universes for the rest of his life. With no food or water he would starve to death and his body would be there for eternity until a Cylon from the future found him whilst discovering a method to travel through parallel universes.

Sheldon began to get flustered and began to feel similar anxiety to when rock-climbing due to instability of being in the world. Then he remembered. When he was rock-climbing the fear caused him to black out. He realised why he'd blacked out the first time he'd travelled. It must've been the fear of being stuck in an scary situation.

Sheldon's mind continued to panic and fell into darkness once again.

#

Sheldon's eyes opened and he instantly saw where he was. He was lying down on a dirty floor and up at a roof. He knew it. He was looking up at the roof of the basement, where he'd left off.

Much like his trip to another universe he wasn't sure what had happened. Where was he? Was he back in the parallel universe? Or had he returned home. Sheldon stood up and brushed himself off. He took of the protective suit he wore to travel through universes and saw he was still wearing Amy's bracelet and the blood stained T-shirt. He instantly regretted not changing clothes before returning.

He looked around the room and saw no evidence to where he ended up. The only thing was a table, but given that table was in the basement in both universes this wasn't evidence enough. He'd just have to go into the world and find out. He opened the basement door and went up the stairs to the university.

People were walking around the university, going about their busy lives, but most of them stopped to look at the tired looking man with blood on his shirt. He needed re-affirmation of which universe it was so he decided to go back to his office. He knew which universe had which version of his office. He headed towards his office and there were few whisperings between people who saw him. Sheldon's Vulcan hearing picked up questions like: 'Is that him?' and 'He must've gone through something bad'.

"Sheldon!" a familiar voice shouted as he headed towards the physics department. He turned to see Leonard with a surprised look on his face.

"Leonard!" Sheldon was actually excited to see him, no matter which version it was.

"Where have you been?" he asked. "You've been missing for days. We almost gave up hope!"

"What do you mean?" Sheldon asked.

"Last Wednesday you went missing." Leonard stated. "We looked everywhere. We searched all over the university, near the apartment, the comic book store, the train store, the train station and we called all your relatives. We eventually called police and they came up with nothing. We even followed your schedule one day but didn't find you anywhere."

"It is hard to explain." Sheldon said.

"I am so happy to have you back buddy." Leonard said. He walked up to Sheldon.

"Can I ask you something weird Leonard." Sheldon said.

"Okay."

"Are you and Penny dating?"

Leonard almost looked surprised. "Of course. What an odd question."

"Did you get back together after you were staring at her on the blue t-shirt and I had just received my cardboard life-sized Spock." Sheldon asked.

Leonard gave a confused look. "I think so. I remember it being light blue… why is there blood on your shirt?" he realised.

"That is my blood from when I was punched in the face." Sheldon explained.

"What?" Leonard asked with a shocked look on his face.

"That is also how I got the bruises on my face and some regions you can't see because of my clothing…."

"Ok, buddy." Leonard began to panic. "I'm taking you to the nurse. You need to be taken care of!"

"Not the nurse! You know I detest her…"

"No questions Sheldon!" Leonard argued. Sheldon knew that Leonard for once was right. He needed to be taken care of, since he might have been home.

#

"Apart from some bruises and a little malnourishment he is completely fine." The nurse told Leonard. "Get him something healthy to eat and some fresh clothing."

"I can hear you talk about me!" Sheldon argued from a nearby seat in the nurse's office. He felt very anxious being in the nurse's room where sick students with no hygiene probably sneezed. "And when can I see Amy?"

"I just called her as well as Penny, Howard, Raj and Bernadette." Leonard said.

Suddenly there was a knock at the door.

"Amy!" Sheldon instantly was excited. The door opened and they saw Howard and Raj.

"Sheldon!" Raj said with concern. "Are you okay? I was so worried!"

"Raj was more worried than I was, but I was still very concerned." Howard said.

"Where is Amy?" Sheldon asked again.

"Is that all we get. A question about where your girlfriend is." Howard stated.

"Don't ring him up too much." Leonard said. "He probably has had a tough time."

"What happened to you?' Raj asked. "All we could find was a weird machine in the basement that we couldn't work out how to use but we ended up giving to the police. They couldn't figure it out either."

"Of course you couldn't know how to use it." Sheldon said with condescension "Anyway, I'm not saying anything until Amy gets here!" Sheldon hadn't thought of having the machine self-destruct when first constructing it, so it was still intact.

"It might be a while. She was out looking for you." Leonard said.

"She was looking for me?" Sheldon asked.

"Amy didn't stop looking for you everyday whilst you were gone. Apart from sleep and eating, that is what she was doing." Leonard explained.

Sheldon thought for a second. Amy had been looking for him as hard as he was trying to return to her.

"That is… so romantic." Sheldon said.

"Don't start dropping r-bombs Sheldon." Leonard joked. Howard laughed. Raj looked at the two and rolled his eyes.

"We should get Sheldon some clean clothes and food." Raj suggested.

"Good idea." Leonard said. "I'll text the girls to meet us in the cafeteria."

"Thank goodness." Sheldon stood up. "I haven't eaten since last night. But first Raj and Howard, how is your romantic relationship?"

"What?" Howard asked.

"We aren't in a romantic relationship." Raj stated.

"I'm married to Bernadette."

"You mean on top of the apartment roof on the day Google Earth was taking photographs?" Sheldon asked inquisitively.

"Of course Sheldon." Howard said.

"Good." Sheldon said. "That is exactly what I wanted to hear." And he walked out of the nurse's office. Leonard, Howard and Raj gave each other confused looks.

#

Sheldon sat down in the cafeteria with Leonard, Howard and Raj. He always kept a spare set of clothes in his office in case of an 'accident' and this was more than just an accident. He was now wearing the clean set of clothes. It was a small pleasure but for someone like Sheldon who'd been through what he had it was a hygienic heaven. When he was walking to his office to get the clothing he read the names on the office doors and saw it was the same as his old universe. His office was also the same as before.

He had ordered of the cafeteria's cheeseburger and was going to start eating it. However, someone caught his attention.

"Sheldon, you're here!" was the familiar voice of Penny. With no hesitation she came up to him with a hug.

"Your arms remind me of an anaconda devouring its prey." Sheldon said. Penny stopped hugging him and sat down at the table.

"Oh shut up Sheldon." Penny said in a joking manner

"If I did then the world would be disadvantaged." He said. "On a side note, have we ever engaged in coitus?"

"What?" the whole group, including Penny, said with shock.

"Ew! Sheldon what the hell?" Penny asked with confusion. "Why would you ask that?"

"You didn't answer my question…"

"No we've never engaged in coitus." Penny answered. "And I'm shuddering at the thought."

"Me too sister." Sheldon said. Suddenly out of the corner of his eye Sheldon saw a woman with glasses and hair the colour of mud enter the cafeteria.

"Amy!" Sheldon exclaimed and stood up.

"Sheldon!" Amy said ecstatically. Sheldon rushed over to the entrance of the cafeteria and without hesitation Sheldon began to kiss her passionately. Amy couldn't help but kiss back. He could somehow tell that this Amy was the one he was in love with. After about half a minute a voice from behind them spoke up.

"Excuse me." Said the squeaky voice of Bernadette. "I arrived here with Amy and you are blocking the path to the table." Sheldon and Amy stopped kissing and saw Bernadette's glare.

"Wow." Amy said and was taken aback. "Hello there."

"I missed you so much Amy." Sheldon said. "I have so much to tell you."

"Where were you?" Amy asked. "I was worried sick. I thought you might have died."

"I heard you searched for me." Sheldon said. "I thank you but I am probably disappointing you by saying you would've never found me."

"Why?" Amy asked.

"Sit down at the table and I'll explain it to you all." Sheldon said. He was sure this was the right universe, so he knew it'd be safe.

The group of 7 sat down at a large cafeteria table as Sheldon began to explain everything but only after they all agreed to keep it a secret. He told them all about how at every day at 2:45 he'd go down to the university's basement and work on a machine that could take someone to another parallel universe.

"That is ridiculous!" Leonard argued.

"They did find a machine in the basement." Howard thought aloud.

"Please don't interrupt as I tell this story." Sheldon said. "Or I'll just tell this to Amy later." He smiled at her and she gave one back. The group wanted to continue to interrupt but as they also wanted to hear Sheldon's explanation so they remained quiet.

Sheldon explained that while testing he travelled to another universe where he and Penny were romantically linked, Howard and Raj were a couple, Leonard hated him and he didn't even know Amy. He then explained the story of what happened from bumping into Amy, asking her and her husband Dave for help, building the machine with them, the other Sheldon returning, the other Sheldon being suspicious and then being kidnapped by David Underhill. He added that he kissed the other Amy for full honesty. He finished the story by explaining how he thought of how to return home and then using the generator to do so.

At the end of the story everyone in the group had a facial expression that indicated they didn't know what to make of the story.

"Did you bump your head on the way to the basement?" Howard asked.

Sheldon shook his head. "No!"

"Where was I in this universe?" Bernadette asked.

"You were an ice dancer who became seriously injured." Sheldon explained.

"This is hard to believe." Leonard thought aloud.

"Well, Bernadette did consider becoming an ice dancer…" Sheldon began to justify.

"I meant about going to a parallel universe!" Leonard clarified.

"What is that on your wrist?" Raj interrupted. "I know you hate jewellery."

Sheldon showed them the bracelet with Amy's name on it.

"Where did you get that Sheldon?" Amy asked with a surprised expression.

"The Amy from the parallel universe gave it to me so she could tell Sheldon and I apart." Sheldon explained. "She let me keep it."

"That bracelet was given to me by my grandmother before she died." Amy said. "She had it made especially for me. There is only one."

"I've never seen you wear it." Sheldon stated. He also realised that the other Amy must have cared for him deeply to let him keep it.

"It reminds me of her too much." Amy said. "It is hidden in a jewellery box in my apartment."

"If Sheldon has it, and you have yours then that must be proof of his story." Raj said.

"There are probably many Amy bracelets in this world." Penny said.

"This one is different." Amy explained. "There is not another one like it."

The table began to discuss the validity of Sheldon's story so he took the opportunity to eat some of his burger. He was hungry so he finished it quickly. Sheldon noted how much better it was then the burger in the other universe. He couldn't but smile whilst eating it. When finished Sheldon stood up from the table. "I don't expect you all to believe it. I myself would be sceptical of such a story." He told them. "I am just happy to be home and to be with all of you once again."

All six were surprised with Sheldon suddenly being sentimental. They all knew he must've gone through something straining for him to think like that.

"I have something to take care of." Sheldon told them all. "Tonight Amy, I request we have a date night in your apartment to discuss our relationship."

"Of course, Sheldon." Amy said.

"I'll see you all later." Sheldon said before leaving the table. Behind him, he heard the group talking amongst themselves again.

#

For the rest of the day Sheldon was determined to erase anything to do with his parallel universe machine. He destroyed all the calculations and designs he had made. He went to the police station to retrieve his machine, explaining his disappearance was a large misunderstanding that was now taken care of. He then destroyed the machine so no one could ever travel to a parallel universe. He'd seen what toll it had on him and the people of the other universe so he thought it best that no one could do it again.

The only evidence of the machine was Sheldon's bracelet. He decided to break his jewellery rules and keep wearing it, to remind himself of the Amy who helped him.

The only people who knew about the parallel universe were his friends who weren't sure that he was telling the truth, and would probably be deemed crazy if they tried to tell anyone. Sheldon was happy that he told them the truth though, even if they didn't believe it. It showed how much trust that he'd built whilst struggling in the other universe.

He also checked again that this universe was right one. He went several to his common locations and saw they were same. All his Facebook posts were once he made and everything in his apartment was the same.

That night Sheldon turned up to Amy's apartment and explained everything he did that afternoon to her. They were eating Spaghetti with hot dogs cut up in it and Amy had made it perfectly. It was like he was tasting happiness.

"I believe you Sheldon and I know you only kissed the other Amy in a moment of severe weakness." Amy smiled at him. "I can tell when you are lying and you were not."

"Thank you." Sheldon said.

"It must have been hard when you were kept captive by Underhill." She continued.

"Most pain I've ever been in but I wouldn't have been able to return home if it weren't for the discomfort I felt." He explained. "What did everyone else in the group think of my explanation?"

"Mostly sceptical of your story. I think Raj believed you the most. Penny didn't understand much and assumed you were right until Leonard said otherwise." Amy explained.

"Of course." Sheldon said with a laugh.

"But they are just happy you have returned, false story or not." Amy said. "I also found the exact bracelet you are wearing in my jewellery box. That and your word is proof enough for me."

Sheldon couldn't help smile at what was the love of his life.

"I love you Amy." He said.

Amy looked almost stunned, like she was going to hyperventilate. "I love you too…" She said.

"I was thinking whilst I was away." Sheldon told her. "How I wasn't treating you very well. How if I never returned you'd think of me as some standoffish boyfriend who didn't care about you…"

"No, I wouldn't think that at all Sheldon." Amy insisted.

"But I realised I need to treat you right." He said. "I must propose a clause in our relationship agreement to schedule in a coitus night. Perhaps once a week."

Amy almost fell out of her chair from what she was hearing. "That is the most romantic clause proposal I've ever heard."

"I know." Sheldon smiled and continued to eat.

"Could the scheduled weekly coitus night start tonight?" Amy asked.

"If that is what you propose, then we can start tonight." Sheldon said. "But I'm afraid I don't have any…"

"Don't worry." Amy said. "I've had some protection here for…. Emergencies." She said. Sheldon gave her an odd look.

"Okay then. It is settled." Sheldon said. "Tonight we will coitus and continue once a week."

"So… should we begin or…"

"I think we should finish dinner." Sheldon said.

"Oh right." She laughed. "Completely forget we were eating." And she also continued to eat. "You'd better eat quickly."

"I am attempting too." Sheldon admitted with a sly smile. Amy's heart flustered.

#

Sheldon and Amy lay in bed after their first time having coitus. Sheldon looked the same as before the coitus whilst Amy's looked unkempt with wild hair.

"That was better than what I thought it would be." Sheldon admitted.

"Me too." Amy said back.

"I motion we change our weekly coitus to twice a week. Any objections?" Sheldon asked.

"No objections." Amy said instantly.

"So what usually happens now?" Sheldon asked.

"Pillow talk." Amy told him. "We talk a bit afterwards."

"What should we discuss?" Sheldon asked.

"I'm curious about the other universe." Amy said. "What was it like? How else was it different?"

Sheldon began to explain the difference between the universes. He told her about Stuart being the owner of comic book chain and being involved with Taylor Swift. He told her about Leonard being a financial worker and Penny being a physicist. Amy listened to the whole explanation intently.

"Thank you for being honest Sheldon." Amy said and kissed him on the lips. After the kiss had finished Sheldon smiled.

"Thank you for believing me." He said back. Amy and Sheldon talked a bit more before going to sleep. Sheldon fell asleep after Amy though. He was still traumatised from his experience in the other universe. He began to wonder about how the other Amy was doing. Was the other Sheldon suspicious still of them being from a parallel universe? Sheldon felt a twinge of sadness that he'd never see them again. Then he looked at his Amy and his sadness went away. He was now happy that he'd managed to return. He felt like one of the heroes in a sci-fi movie, successfully facing every challenge to get back to his girl. He then fell asleep and slept better than he had in sometime.

 **That is the end of this story. This was a blast to write and I am very happy of this you every single reader for giving it a chance and a special thank you to everyone who favourited, followed and reviewed. It was a delight to read your reactions to each twist and turn the story took. This story was my first to get over 200 reviews, despite it being less chapters then my previous story, which was a big achievement. I know this ending may have not been what you were expecting or wanting but I still hoped you liked it.**

 **I go back to college after my mid-semester break on Tuesday and I won't be publishing any stories until the very end of November. I love writing stories but I want to make my studies a full priority as I get to final stretches of the semester. I hopefully will publish something when my exams are over so watch out for that. I might even write something original, depending on what ideas I get. Until then, thank you all. You can follow my Tumblr if you wish to keep in contact with me although when exams come I don't think I'll be using that often either.**

 **Thank you all again.**

 **Clint Cooper.**


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